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THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE. 


^, 


Yi/aai/t, 


THE 
COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE 


Translated  from  the 

QUERELA  PACIS  (A.  D.  1521) 

of 

ERASMUS 


CHICAGO  LONDON 

THE  OPEN  COURT  PUBLISHING  CO. 

1917 


PUBLISHERS'  PREFACE. 


THIS  translation  of  the  Querela  Pads  of  Erasmus  is 
reprinted  from  a  rare  old  English  version.  It  is  prob- 
ably the  1802  reprint  of  the  translation  made  by  T.  Paynell 
but  published  anonymously.  We  are  indebted  to  Mr.  C. 
K.  Ogden,  editor  of  the  Cambridge  Magazine,  for  calling 
our  attention  to  this  quaint  and  timely  publication  and 
for  furnishing  the  typewritten  copy. 


ig-f 


n  (7 


THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE. 

(Peace  speaks  in  her  own  person.) 

THOUGH  I  certainly  deserve  no  ill  treatment 
from  mortals,  yet  i£  the  insults  and  repulses 

I   receive  were  attended  with  any  advantage   to 

them,  I  would  content  myself  with  lamenting  in 

^j     silence  my  own  unmerited  indignities  and  man's 

^     injustice.  But  since,  in  driving  me  away  from  them, 

«>     they  remove  the  source  of  all  human  blessings, 

3      and  let  in  a  deluge  of  calamities  on  themselves, 

I  am  more  inclined  to  bewail  their  misfortune, 
►^  than  complain  of  ill  usage  to  myself;  and  I  am 
^  reduced  to  the  necessity  of  weeping  over  and  com- 
^  miserating  those  whom  I  wished  to  view  rather  as 
^  objects  of  indignation  than  of  pity. 
^  For  though  rudely  to  reject  one  who  loves  them 

^      as  I  do,  may  appear  to  be  savage  cruelty ;  to  feel 

an  aversion  for  one  who  has  deserved  so  well  of 
^  them,  base  ingratitude;  to  trample  on  one  who 
I  has  nursed  and  fostered  them  with  all  a  parent's 
^  care,  an  unnatural  want  of  filial  affection;  yet  vol- 
^  untarily  to  renounce  so  many  and  so  great  advan- 
:^      tages  as  I  always  bring  in  my  train,  to  go  in  quest 


2  THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE 

of  evils  infinite  in  number  and  shocking  in  nature, 
how  can  I  account  for  such  perverse  conduct,  but 
by  attributing  it  to  downright  madness?  We  may 
be  angry  with  the  wicked,  but  we  can  only  pity 
the  insane.  What  can  I  do  but  weep  over  them? 
And  I  weep  over  them  the  more  bitterly,  because 
they  weep  not  for  themselves.  No  part  of  their 
misfortune  is  more  deplorable  than  their  insensi- 
bility to  it.  It  is  one  great  step  to  convalescence 
to  know  the  extent  and  inveteracy  of  a  disease. 

Now,  if  I,  whose  name  is  Peace,  am  a  personage 
glorified  by  the  united  praise  of  God  and  man,  as 
the  fountain,  the  parent,  the  nurse,  the  patroness, 
the  guardian  of  every  blessing  which  either  heaven 
or  earth  can  bestow;  if  without  me  nothing  is 
flourishing,  nothing  safe,  nothing  pure  or  holy, 
nothing  pleasant  to  mortals,  or  grateful  to  the 
Supreme  Being;  if,  on  the  contrary,  war  is  one 
vast  ocean,  rushing  on  mankind,  of  all  the  united 
plagues  and  pestilences  in  nature;  if ,  at  its  deadly 
approach,  every  blossom  of  happiness  is  instantly 
blasted,  every  thing  that  was  improving  gradually 
degenerates  and  dwindles  away  to  nothing,  every 
thing  that  was  firmly  supported  totters  on  its 
foundation,  every  thing  that  was  formed  for  long 
duration  comes  to  a  speedy  end,  and  every  thing 
that  was  sweet  by  nature  is  turned  into  bitterness; 
if  war  is  so  unhallowed  that  it  becomes  the  dead- 
liest bane  of  piety  and  religion;  if  there  is  nothing 
more  calamitous  to  mortals,  and  more  detestable 
to  heaven,  I  ask,  how  in  the  name  of  God,  can  I 
believe  those  beings  to  be  rational  creatures;  how 
can  I  believe  them  to  be  otherwise  than  stark  mad; 
who,  with  such  a  waste  of  treasure,  with  so  ardent 


THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE  3 

a  zeal,  with  so  great  an  effort,  with  so  many  arts, 
so  much  anxiety,  and  so  much  danger,  endeavour 
to  drive  me  away  from  them,  and  purchase  endless 
misery  and  mischief  at  a  price  so  high? 

If  they  were  wild  beasts  who  thus  despised  and 
rejected  me,  I  could  bear  it  more  patiently;  be- 
cause I  should  impute  the  affront  to  nature,  who 
had  implanted  in  them  so  savage  a  disposition. 
If  I  were  an  object  of  hatred  to  dumb  creatures, 
I  could  overlook  their  ignorance,  because  the  pow- 
ers of  mind  necessary  to  perceive  my  excellence 
have  been  denied  to  them.  But  it  is  a  circum- 
stance equally  shameful  and  marvellous,  that 
though  nature  has  formed  one  animal,  and  one 
alone,  with  powers  of  reason,  and  a  mind  partici- 
pating of  divinity;  one  animal,  and  one  alone, 
capable  of  sentimental  affection  and  social  union; 
I  can  find  admission  among  the  wildest  of  wild 
beasts,  and  the  most  brutal  of  brutes,  sooner  than 
with  this  one  animal;  the  rational,  immortal  ani- 
mal called  man. 

Among  the  celestial  bodies  that  are  revolving 
over  our  heads,  though  the  motions  are  not  the 
same,  and  though  the  force  is  not  equal,  yet  they 
move,  and  ever  have  moved,  without  clashing,  and 
in  perfect  harmony.  '  The  very  elements  them- 
selves, though  repugnant  in  their  nature,  yet,  by 
a  happy  equilibrium,  preserve  eternal  peace;  and 
amid  the  discordancy  of  their  constituent  prin- 
ciples, cherish,  by  a  friendly  intercourse  and  coali- 
tion, an  uninterrupted  concord. 

In  living  bodies,  how  all  the  various  limbs  har- 
monize, and  mutually  combine,  for  common  de- 
fence against  injury!     What  can  be  more  hetero- 


4  THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE 

geneous,  and  unlike,  than  the  body  and  the  soul? 
and  yet  with  what  strong  bonds  nature  has  united 
them,  is  evident  from  the  pang  of  separation.  As 
life  itself  is  nothing  else  but  the  concordant  union 
of  body  and  soul,  so  is  health  the  harmonious  co- 
operation of  all  the  parts  and  functions  of  the 
body. 

Animals  destitute  of  reason  live  with  their  own 
kind  in  a  state  of  social  amity.  Elephants  herd  to- 
gether; sheep  and  swine  feed  in  flocks;  cranes  and 
crows  take  their  flight  in  troops;  storks  have  their 
public  meetings  to  consult  previously  to  their 
emigration,  and  feed  their  parents  when  unable 
to  feed  themselves;  dolphins  defend  each  other  by 
mutual  assistance ;  and  everybody  knows,  that  both 
ants  and  bees  have  respectively  established  by 
general  agreement,  a  little  friendly  community. 

But  I  need  dwell  no  longer  on  animals,  which, 
though  they  want  reason,  are  evidently  furnished 
with  sense.  In  trees  and  plants  one  may  trace  the 
vestiges  of  amity  and  love.  Many  of  them  are 
barren,  unless  the  male  plant  is  placed  on  their 
vicinity.  The  vine  embraces  the  elm,  and  other 
plants  cling  to  the  vine.  So  that  things  which 
have  no  powers  of  sense  to  perceive  any  thing 
else,  seem  strongly  to  feel  the  advantages  of  union. 

But  plants,  though  they  have  not  powers  of  per- 
ception, yet,  as  they  have  life,  certainly  approach 
very  nearly  to  those  things  which  are  endowed 
with  sentient  faculties.  What  then  is  so  com- 
pletely insensible  as  stony  substance?  yet  even  in 
this,  there  appears  to  be  a  desire  of  union.  Thus 
the  loadstone  attracts  iron  to  it,  and  holds  it  fast 
in   its  embrace,  when   so  attracted.     Indeed,   the 


I 


THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE  5 

attraction  of  cohesion,  as  a  law  of  love,  takes  place 
throughout  all  inanimate  nature. 

I  need  not  repeat,  that  the  most  savage  of  the 
savage  tribes  in  the  forest,  live  among  each  other 
in  amity.  Lions  show  no  fierceness  to  the  lion 
race.  The  boar  does  not  brandish  his  deadly  tooth 
against  his  brother  boar.  The  lynx  lives  in  peace 
v/ith  the  lynx.  The  serpent  shews  no  venom  in  his 
intercourse  with  his  fellow  serpent;  and  the  lov- 
ing kindness  of  wolf  to  wolf  is  proverbial. 

But  I  will  add  a  circumstance  still  more  marvel- 
lous. The  accursed  spirits,  by  whom  the  concord 
between  heaven  and  human  beings  was  originally 
interrupted,  and  to  this  day  continues  interrupted, 
hold  union  with  one  another,  and  preserve  their 
usurped  power,  such  as  it  is,  by  unanimity!^ 

Yet  man  to  man,  whom,  of  all  created  beings, 
concord  would  most  become,  and  who  stands  most 
in  need  of  it,  neither  nature,  so  powerful  and  ir- 
resistible in  every  thing  else,  can  reconcile;  nei- 
ther human  compacts  unite;  neither  the  great 
advantages  which  would  evidently  arise  from  una- 
nimity combine,  nor  the  actual  feeling  and  expe- 
rience of  the  dreadful  evils  of  discord  cordially 
endear.  To  all  men  the  human  form  is  the  same, 
the  sound  made  by  the  organs  of  utterance  similar; 
and  while  other  species  of  animals  differ  from 
each  other  chiefly  in  the  shape  of  their  bodies,  to 
men  alone  is  given  a  reasoning  power,  which  is 
indeed  common  to  all  men,  yet  in  a  manner  so 
exclusive,  that  it  is  not  at  the  same  time  common 

1  Thus  Milton: 

"O  shame  to  men!   Devil  with  devil  damned 
Firm  concord  holds;  men  only  disagree." 


A 


6  THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE 

to  any  other  living  creature.  '  To  this  distin- 
guished being  is  also  given  the  power  of  speech, 
the  most  conciliating  instrument  of  social  connec- 
tion and  cordial  love. 

Throughout  the  whole  race  of  men  are  sown  by 
nature  the  seeds  of  virtue,  and  of  every  excellent 
quality.  From  nature  man  receives  a  mild  and 
gentle  disposition,  so  prone  to  reciprocal  benevo- 
lence that  he  delights  to  be  loved  for  the  pleasure  of 
being  loved,  without  any  view  to  interest;  and  feels 
a  satisfaction  in  doing  good,  without  a  wish  or  pros- 
pect of  remuneration.i/rhis  disposition  to  do  disin- 
terested good,  is  natural  to  man,  unless  in  a  few  in- 
stances, where,  corrupted  by  depraved  desires, 
which  operate  like  the  drugs  of  Circe's  cup,  the  hu- 
man being  has  degenerated  to  the  brute.  Hence  even 
the  common  people,  in  the  ordinary  language  of 
daily  conversation,  denominate  whatever  is  con- 
nected with  mutual  good  will,  hum.ane ;  so  that 
the  V7crd  humamty  no  longer  describes  man's"^ 
nature,  merely  in  a  physical  sense ;  but  signifies  ( 
humane  manners,  or  a  behaviour,  worthy  the  na- 
ture of  man,  acting  his  proper  part  in  civil  society. 

Tears  also  are  a  distinctive  mark  fixed  by  nature, 
and  appropriated  to  her  favourite,  man.  They  are 
a  proof  of  placability,  a  forgiving  temper;  so  that 
if  any  trifling  offence  be  given  or  taken,  if  a  little 
cloud  of  ill  humour  darken  the  sunshine,  there 
soon  falls  a  gentle  shower  of  tears,  and  the  cloud 
melts  into  a  sweet  serenity. 

Thus  it  appears,  in  what  various  ways  nature 
has  taught  men  her  first  great  lesson  of  love  and 
union.  Nor  was  she  content  to  allure  the  benevo- 
lence by  the  pleasurable  sensations  attending  it; 


THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE  7 

nor  did  she  think  she  has  done  enough,  when  she 
rendered  friendship  pleasant;  and  therefore  she 
determined  to  make  it  necessary.  ^For  this  pur- 
pose, she  so  distributed  among  various  men  differ- 
ent endowments  of  the  mind  and  the  body,  that 
no  individual  should  be  so  completely  furnished^^""  I  ^ 
with  all  of  them,  but  that  he  should  want  the  occa-  ^^  -A 
sional  assistance  of  the  lowest  orders,  and  even  of  ^^('7 
those  Vv^Jio_aremqs^t_moder^^^^  furnished  with 
ability.  Nor  did  she  give  the  same  talents  either 
in  kind  or  in  degree  to  all,  evidently  meaning  that 
the  inequality  of  her  gifts  should  be  ultimately 
equalized  by  a  reciprocal  interchange  of  good 
offices  and  mutual  assistance.  Thus,  in  different 
countries,  she  has  caused  different  commodities  to 
be  produced,  that  expediency  itself  might  intro- 
duce commercial  intercourse. 

She   furnished  other  animals  with  appropriate 
arms  or  weapons  for  defence  or  offence,  but  man^ 
aloii£,.^he  prodnrpd   ^^ngrmed,   an^   in   a   state   of    Uj 
becillity,  that  he  might  find  his  safety    ^ 


lity^Jthal  he  might  find  his  safety 
in  association  and  alliance-  with  His  feIlov/-crea- 
tures.  It  was  necessity  which  led  to  the  formation 
of  communities;  it  was  necessity  which  led  com- 
munities to  league  with  each  other,  that,  by  the 
union  of  their  force,  they  might  repel  the  incur- 
sion either  of  wild  beasts  or  banditti.  So  that 
there  is  nothing  in  the  whole  circle  of  human 
affairs,  which  is  entirely  sufficient  of  itself  for 
self-maintenance,  or  self-defence. 

In  the  very  commencement  of  life,  the  human 
race  had  been  extinct,  unless  conjugal  union  had 
continued  the  race.  With  difficulty  could  man 
be  born  into  the  world,  or  as  soon  as  born  would 


8  THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE 

he  die,  leaving  life  at  the  very  threshold  o£  exist- 
ence, unless  the  friendly  hand  of  the  careful  ma- 
tron, and  the  affectionate  assiduities  of  the  nurse, 
lent  their  aid  to  the  helpless  babe.  To  preserve 
the  poor  infant,  Nature  has  given  the  fond  mother 
the  tenderest  attachment  to  it,  so  that  she  loves  it 
even  before  she  sees  it. 

Nature,  on  the  other  hand,  has  given  the  chil- 
dren a  strong  affection  for  the  parent,  that  they 
may  become  supports,  in  their  turn,  to  the  imbe- 
cillity  of  declining  age;  and  that  thus  filial  piety 
may  remunerate  (after  the  manner  of  the  stork) 
to  the  second  childhood  of  decrepitude,  the  ten- 
der cares  experienced  in  infancy  from  parental 
love.  Nature  has  also  rendered  the  bonds  both  of 
kindred  and  affinity  strong;  a  similarity  of  natural 
disposition,  inclinations,  studies,  nay  of  external 
form,  becomes  a  very  powerful  cause  of  attach- 
ment; and  there  is  a  secret  sympathy  of  minds, 
a  wonderful  lure  to  mutual  affection,  which  the 
ancients,  unable  to  account  for,  attributed,  in  their 
admiration  of  it,  to  the  tutelar  genius,  or  the 
guardian  angel. 

By  such  and  so  many  plain  indications  of  her 
m.eaning  has  Nature  taught  mankind  to  seek  peace, 
and  ensure  it.  She  invites  them  to  it  by  various 
allurements,  she  draws  them  to  it  by  gentle  vio- 
lence, she  compels  them  to  it  by  the  strong  arm 
of  necessity.  After  all,  then,  what  infernal  being, 
all-powerful  in  mischief,  bursting  every  bond  of 
nature  asunder,  fills  the  human  bosom  with  an  in- 
satiable rage  for  war?  If  familiarity  with  the 
sight  had  not  first  destroyed  all  surprise  at  it,  and 
custom,  soon  afterwards,  blunted  the  sense  of  its 


THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE  9 

evil,  who  could  be  prevailed  upon  to  believe  that 
those  wretched  beings  are  possessed  o£  rational 
souls,  the  intellects  and  feelings  of  human  crea- 
tures, who  contend,  with  all  the  rage  of  furies,  in 
everlasting  feuds,  and  litigations,  ending  in  mur- 
der! Robbery,  blood,  butchery,  desolation,  con- 
found, without  distinction,  every  thing  sacred  and 
profane.  The  most  hallowed  treaties,  mutually 
confirmed  by  the  strongest  sanctions,  cannot  stop 
the  enraged  parties  from  rushing  on  to  mutual 
destruction,  whenever  passion  or  mistaken  inter- 
est urges  them  to  the  irrational  decision  of  the 
battle. 
y  Though  there  were  no  other  motive  to  preserve 
peace,  one  would  imagine  that  the  common  name 
of  man  might  be  sufficient  to  secure  concord  be- 
tween all  who  claim  it.  But  be  it  granted  that 
Nature  has  no  effect  on  men  as  men,  (though  we 
have  seen  that  Nature  rules  as  she  ought  to  do  in 
the  brute  creation),  yet,  must  not  Christ  there- 
fore avail  with  christians?  Be  it  granted  that  the 
suggestions  of  nature  have  no  effect  with  a  ra- 
tional being,  (though  we  see  them  have  great 
weight  even  on  inanimate  things  without  sense) 
yet,  as  the  suggestions  of  the  christian  religion 
are  far  more  excellent  than  those  of  nature,  why 
does  not  the  christian  religion  persuade  those  who 
profess  it,  of  a  truth  which  it  recommends  above 
all  others,  that  is,  the  expediency  and  necessity 
of  peace  on  earth,  and  good-will  towards  men; 
or  at  least,  why  does  it  fail  of  effectually  dis- 
suading from  the  unnatural,  and  more  than  brutal, 
madness  of  waging  war? 

When  I,  whose  name  is  Peace,  do  but  hear  the 


10  THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE 

word  Man  pronounced,  I  eagerly  run  to  him  as 
to  a  being  created  purposely  for  me,  and  confi- 
dently promising  myself,  that  with  him  I  may  live 
for  ever  in  uninterrupted  tranquillity;  but  when 
I  also  hear  the  title  of  Christian  added  to  the  name 
of  Man,  I  fly  with  additional  speed,  hoping  that 
with  christians  I  may  build  an  adamantine  throne, 
and  establish  an  everlasting  empire. 

But  here  also,  with  shame  and  sorrow,  I  am  com- 
pelled to  declare  the  result.  Among  Christians, 
the  courts  of  justice,  the  palaces  of  princes,  the 
senate-houses,  and  the  churches,  resound  with  the 
voice  of  strife,  more  loudly  than  was  ever  heard 
among  nations  who  knew  not  Christ.  Insomvich 
that  though  the  multitude  of  wrangling  advocates 
always  constituted  a  great  part  of  the  v/orld's 
misfortune,  yet  even  this  number  is  nothing  com- 
pared with  the  successive  inundation  of  suitors 
always  at  law. 

I  behold  a  city  enclosed  with  walls.  Hope 
springs  in  my  bosom  that  men,  christian  men, 
must  live  in  concord  here,  if  any  where,  sur- 
rounded, as  they  are,  by  the  same  ramparts,  gov- 
erned by  the  same  laws,  embarked,  as  it  were,  in 
the  same  bottom,  in  the  voyage  of  life,  and  there- 
fore exposed  to  one  common  danger.  But,  ill- 
fated  as  I  am,  here  also  I  find  all  happiness  viti- 
ated by  dissension,  that  I  can  scarcely  discover  a 
single  tenement  in  which  I  can  take  up  my  resi- 
dence for  the  space  of  a  few  days  only,  unmo- 
lested. 

But  I  leave  the  common  people,  who  are  tossed 
about,  like  the  waves,  by  the  winds  of  passion. 
I  enter  the  courts  of  kings  as  into  a  harbour,  from 


THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE  11 

the  storm  o£  folly.  Here,  say  I  to  myself,  here 
must  be  a  place  for  Peace  to  lodge  in.  These  per- 
sonages are  wiser  than  the  vulgar;  they  are  the 
minds  of  the  commonalty,  the  eyes  of  the  people. 
They  claim  also  to  be  the  vicegerents  of  Him  who 
was  the  teacher  of  charity,  the  Prince  of  Peace, 
from  whom  I  come  with  letters  of  recommenda- 
tion, addressed,  indeed,  in  general,  to  all  men,  but 
more  particularly  to  such  as  these. 
^  Appearances,  on  my  entrance  into  the  palace, 
promise  well,  I  see  men  saluting  each  other  with 
the  blandest,  softest,  gentlest  expressions  of  re- 
spect and  love ;  I  see  them  shaking  hands,  and 
embracing  with  the  most  ardent  professions  of 
esteem;  I  see  them  dining  together,  and  enjoying 
convivial  pleasures  in  high  glee  and  jollity;  I  see 
every  outward  sign  of  the  kindest  offices  and  hu- 
manity; but  sorry  am  I  to  add,  that  I  do  not  see 
the  least  symptom  of  sincere  friendship.  It  is  all 
paint  and  varnish.  Every  thing  is  corrupted  by\^ 
open  faction,  or  by  secret  grudges  and  animosities. 
In  one  word,  so  far  am  I  from  finding  in  the 
palaces  of  princes  a  habitation  for  Peace,  that  in 

them   I   d iacoy er_jn_the _embr y o s^_semi nal^  prin- 

ciples,  and  sources  of  all  the  wars  that  ever  cursed 
mankind,  and  desolated  the  universe. 

Unfortunate  asT  am  in  my^researches  for  a  place 
to  rest  in,  whither  shall  I  next  repair?  I  failed 
among  kings,  it  is  true;  but  perhaps  the  epithet 
great  belongs  to  kings,  rather  than  good,  wise,  or 
learned;  and  perhaps  they  are  more  under  the  in- 
fluence of  caprice  and  passion  than  of  sound  and 
sober  discretion.  I  will  repair  to  the  learned 
world.     It  is  said,  learning  makes  the  man;  phi- 


12  THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE 

Icsophy,  something  more  than  man;  and  theology 
exalts  man  to  the  divine  nature.  Harassed  as  I 
am  with  the  research,  I  shall  surely  find  among 
these  a  safe  retreat  to  rest  my  head  in  undisturbed 
repose. 

Here  also  I  find  war  of  another  kind,  less  bloody 
indeed,  but  not  less  furious.  Scholar  wages  war 
with  scholar;  and,  as  if  truth  could  be  changed 
by  change  of  place,  some  opinions  must  never 
pass  over  the  sea,  some  never  can  surmount  the 
Alps,  and  others  do  not  even  cross  the  Rhine; 
nay,  in  the  same  university,  the  rhetorician  is  at 
variance  with  the  logician,  and  the  theologist  with 
the  lawyer.  In  the  same  kind  of  profession,  the 
scotist  contends  with  the  thomist,  the  nominalist 
with  the  realist,  the  platonic  with  the  peripatetic; 
insomuch  that  they  agree  not  in  the  minutest 
points,  and  often  are  at  daggers  drawing  de  lana 
caprina,  till  the  warmth  of  disputation  advances 
from  argument  to  abusive  language,  and  from 
abusive  language  to  fisty-cuffs;  and,  if  they  do  not 
proceed  to  use  real  swords  and  spears,  they  stab 
one  another  with  pens  dipt  in  the  venom  of  malice; 
they  tear  one  another  with  biting  libels,  and  dart 
the  deadly  arrows  of  their  tongues  against  their 
opponent's  reputation. 

So  often  disappointed,  whither  shall  I  repair? 
Whither,  but  to  the  houses  of  religion?  Religion! 
that  anchor  in  the  storm  of  life?  The  profession 
of  religion  is  indeed  common  to  all  christians; 
but  they  who  come  recommended  to  us  under  the 
appellation  of  priests,  profess  it  in  a  more  peculiar 
manner,  by  the  name  they  bear,  the  service  they 
perform,  and  the  ceremonies  they  observe. 


THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE  13 

When  I  take  a  view  o£  them  at  a  distance,  every 
outward  and  visible  sign  makes  me  conclude,  that 
among  them,  at  least,  I  shall  certainly  find  a  safe 
asylum.  I  like  the  looks  of  their  white  surplices; 
for  white  is  my  own  favourite  colour.  I  see  figures 
of  the  cross  about  them,  all  symbolical  of  peace. 
I  hear  them  all  calling  one  another  by  the  pleasant 
name  of  brother,  a  mark  of  extraordinary  good- 
will and  charity;  I  hear  them  salute  each  other 
with  the  words,  "Peace  be  unto  you":  apparently 
happy  in  an  address  so  ominous  of  joy.  I  see  a 
community  of  all  things;  I  see  them  incorporated 
in  a  regular  society,  with  the  same  place  of  wor- 
ship, the  same  rules,  and  the  sam^e  daily  congrega- 
tion. Who  can  avoid  being  confidently  certain 
that  here,  if  no  where  else  in  the  world,  a  habita- 
tion will  be  found  for  peace? 

•^  O,  shame  to  tell!  there  is  scarcely  one  man  in 
these  religious  societies  that  is  on  good  terms 
with  his  own  bishop ;  though  even  this  might  be 
passed  over  as  a  trifling  matter,  if  they  were  not 
torn  to  pieces  by  party  disputes  among  each  other. 
Where  is  the  priest  to  be  found,  who  has  not  a 
dispute  with  some  other  priest?  Paul  thinks  it 
an  insufferable  enormity  that  a  christian  should 
go  to  law  with  a  christian;  and  shall  a  priest  con- 
tend with  a  priest,  a  bishop  with  a  bishop?  But 
perhaps  it  may  be  offered  as  an  apology  for  these 
men,  that,  by  long  intercourse  with  men  of  the 
world,  and  by  possessing  such  things  as  the  world 
chiefly  values,  they  have  gradually  adopted  the 
manners  of  the  world,  even  in  the  retreat  of  the 
church  and  the  cloister.     To  themselves  I  leave 


14  THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE 

them  to  strive  about  that  property,  which  they 
claim  by  prescription. 

There  remains  one  order  of  the  clergy,  who 
are  so  tied  to  religion  by  vows  that,  if  they  were 
inclined,  they  could  no  more  shake  it  off,  than  the 
tortoise  can  get  rid  of  the  shell  which  he  carries 
on  his  back,  like  a  house.  I  should  hope,  if  I  had 
not  been  so  often  disappointed,  that,  among  these 
persons,  coming  in  the  name  of  peace,  I  should 
gain  a  welcome  reception.  However,  that  I  may 
leave  no  stone  unturned,  I  go  and  try  whether  I 
may  be  allowed  to  fix  my  residence  here.  Do  you 
wish  to  know  the  result  of  the  experiment?  I 
never  received  a  ruder  repulse.  What  indeed 
could  I  expect,  where  religion  herself  seems  to 
be  at  war  with  religion.  There  are  just  as  many 
parties  as  there  are  fraternities.  The  dominicans 
disagree  with  the  minorites,  the  benedictines  with 
the  bernardines;  so  many  modes  of  worship,  so 
various  the  rites  and  ceremonies;  they  cannot 
agree  in  any  particular;  every  one  likes  his  own, 
and  therefore  damns  all  others.  Na5^  the  same 
fraternity  is  rent  into  parties;  the  observantes 
inveigh  against  the  coletae;  both  unite  in  their 
hatred  of  a  third  sort,  which,  though  it  derives 
its  name  from  a  convent,  yet,  in  no  article,  can 
come  to  an  amicable  convention. 

By  this  time,  as  you  may  imagine,  despairing 
of  almost  every  place,  I  formed  a  wish  that  I 
might  be  permitted  to  seek  a  quiet  retreat  in  the 
obscurity  of  some  little  inconsiderable  monastery. 
With  reluctance  I  must  declare,  what  I  wish  were 
untrue,  that  I  have  not  yet  been  able  to  find  one 
which  is  not  corrupted  and  spoiled  by   intestine 


THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE  15 

jars  and  animosities.  I  blush  to  relate  on  what 
childish,  flimsy  causes,  old  men,  venerable  for 
their  grey  beards  and  their  gowns,  and  in  their 
own  opinions  not  only  deeply  learned,  but  holy, 
involve  themselves  in  endless  strife. 

I  now  cherished  a  pleasing  hope  that  I  might 
find  a  place  in  private,  domestic  life,  amid  the 
apparent  happiness  of  conjugal  and  family  endear- 
ment. It  was  surely  reasonable  to  expect  it  from 
such  promising  circumstances,  as  an  equal  partner- 
ship founded  on  the  choice  of  the  heart,  in  the  same 
house,  the  same  fortune,  the  same  bed,  the  same 
progeny;  add  to  this,  the  mysterious  union  by 
which  two  become  virtually  one.  But  here  also 
Eris,  the  goddess  of  discord,  had  insinuated  herself, 
and  had  torn  asunder  the  strongest  bands  of  con- 
jugal attachment,  by  disagreement  in  temper;  and 
yet,  in  the  domestic  circle,  I  could  much  sooner 
have  found  a  place  than  among  the  professed  re- 
ligious, notwithstanding  their  fine  titles,  their 
splendid  dresses,  images,  crucifixes,  and  their  var- 
ious ceremonies,  all  which  hold  out  the  idea  of 
perfect  charity,  the  very  bonds  of  peace. 

At  length  I  felt  a  wish  that  I  might  find  a  snug 
and  secure  dwelling-place  in  the  bosom,  at  least, 
of  some  one  man.  But  here  also  I  failed.  One 
and  the  same  man  is  at  war  with  himself.  Reason 
wages  war  with  the  passions;  one  passion  with 
another  passion.  Duty  calls  one  way,  and  inclina- 
tion another.  Lust,  anger,  avarice,  ambition,  are 
all  up  in  arms,  each  pursuing  its  own  purposes, 
and  warmly  engaged  in  the  battle. 

Such  then  and  so  fierce,  ought  not  men  to  blush 
at  the  appellation  of  christians,  differing,  as  they 


16  THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE 

do  essentially,  from  the  peculiar  and  distinguish- 
ing excellence  of  Christ?  Consider  the  whole  of 
his  life;  what  is  it, but  one  lesson  of  concord  and 
mutual  love?  What  do  his  precepts,  what  do  his 
parables  inculcate,  but  peace  and  charity?  Did 
that  excellent  prophet  Isaiah,  when  he  foretold 
the  coming  of  Christ  as  an  universal  reconciler, 
represent  him  as  an  earthly  lord,  a  satrap,  a 
grandee,  or  courtier?  Did  he  announce  him  as  a 
mighty  conqueror,  a  burner  of  villages,  a  de- 
stroyer of  towns,  as  one  who  was  to  triumph  over 
the  slaughter  and  misery  of  wretched  mortals? 
No.  How  then  did  he  announce  him?  As  the 
Prince  of  Peace.  The  prophet,  intending  to  de- 
scribe him  as  the  most  excellent  of  all  the  princes 
that  ever  came  into  the  world,  drew  the  title  of 
that  superior  excellence,  from  what  is  itself  the 
most  excellent  of  all  things.  Peace.  Nor  is  it  to 
be  wondered,  that  Isaiah,  an  inspired  prophet, 
viewed  Peace  in  this  light,  when  Silius  Italicus, 
a  heathen  poet,  has  written  my  character  in  these 
words: 

Pax  optima  rerum 

Quas  homini  natura  dedit 

No  boon  that  nature  ever  gave  to  man, 
May  be  compared  with  peace. 

The  mystic  minstrel,  the  sweet  psalmist,  has 
also  sung: 

"In  Salem  (a  place  of  peace)  is  his  tabernacle." 
Not  in  tents,  not  in  camps,  did  this  prince,  mighty 
to  save,  fix  his  residence;  but  in  Salem,  the  city 
of  peace.  He  is,  indeed,  the  Prince  of  Peace; 
peace  is  his  dear  delight,  and  war  his  abomination. 


THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE  17 

Again,  the  prophet  Isaiah  calls  the  work  o£ 
righteousness,  peace;  meaning  the  same  thing  with 
Paul,  (who  was  himself  converted  from  the  turbu- 
lent Saul,  to  a  preacher  of  peace)  when  preferring 
charity  to  all  other  gifts  of  the  secret  spirit  of 
God,  he  thundered  in  the  ears  of  the  Corinthians 
my  eulogium,  with  an  eloquence  which  arose  from 
the  fine  feelings  of  his  bosom,  animated  by  grace, 
and  warm  with  benevolence.  Why  may  I  not  glory 
in  having  been  celebrated  by  one  so  celebrated 
himself,  as  this  great  apostle?  In  another  place 
he  calls  Christ  the  God  of  Peace ;  and  in  a  third, 
the  Peace  of  God;  plainly  indicating,  that  these 
two  characters  so  naturally  coalesce,  that  Peace 
cannot  come  where  God  is  not ;  and  that  where 
Peace  is  not,  God  cannot  come. 

In  the  sacred  volumes  we  find  the  holy  ministers 
of  God  called  messengers  of  peace;  from  which 
it  is  obvious  to  conclude,  whose  ministers  those 
men  must  be,  who  are  the  messengers  of  war.  Hear 
this,  ye  mighty  warriors  and  mark  under  whose 
banners  ye  fight; — they  are  those  of  that  accursed 
being  who  first  sowed  strife  between  man  and  his 
maker.  To  this  first  fatal  strife  are  to  be  ascribed 
all  the  woes  that  mortal  man  is  doomed  to  feel. 

It  is  frivolous  to  argue,  as  some  do,  that  God 
is  called,  in  the  mysterious  volumes,  the  God  of 
hosts,  and  the  God  of  vengeance.  There  is  a  great 
difference  between  the  God  of  the  Jews  and  the 
God  of  the  Christians,  notwithstanding  God,  in 
his  own  essence,  is  one  and  the  same.  But  if  we 
must  still  retain  the  ancient  Jewish  titles  of  God, 
let  God  be  called  the  God  of  hosts,  while,  by  the 
word  hosts,  is  understood,  the  phalanx  of  divine 


18  THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE 

graces,  by  whose  energy  good  men  are  enabled  to 
route  and  destroy  the  vices,  those  deadliest  enemies 
o£  human  felicity.  Let  him  still  be  styled  God  of 
vengeance,  provided  you  understand  it  to  be  ven- 
geance on  those  sins  which  rob  us  of  repose.  In 
like  manner,  the  examples  of  bloody  slaughter 
with  which  the  Jewish  histories  are  stuffed,  should 
be  used,  not  as  incentives  to  the  butchery  of  our 
fellow-creatures,  but  to  the  utter  extermination 
of  all  bad  passions,  hostile  to  our  virtue  and  hap- 
piness, from  the  territory  of  our  own  bosoms. 

To  proceed,  however,  as  I  had  begun,  with 
scriptural  passages  in  favour  of  peace.  When- 
ever they  mean  to  describe  perfect  happiness, 
they  always  denote  it  by  the  name  of  peace;  as 
Isaiah,  "My  people  shall  repose  in  the  beauty  of 
peace";  so  also,  "Peace  upon  Israel."  Again, 
Isaiah  expresses  a  rapturous  admiration  of  them 
who  bring  glad  tidings  of  peace.  Whoever  of  the 
sacred  writers  announces  Christ,  announces  peace 
on  earth.  Whoever  proclaims  war,  proclaims  him 
who  is  as  unlike  Christ  as  it  is  possible  to  be — 
the  grand  destroyer. 
*^  What  induced  the  Son  of  God  to  come  down 
from  heaven  to  earth,  but  a  gracious  desire  to 
reconcile  the  world  to  his  Father?  to  cement  the 
hearts  of  men  by  mutual  and  indissoluble  love? 
and  lastly,  to  reconcile  man  to  himself  and  bid 
him  be  at  peace  with  his  own  bosom?  For  my 
sake,  then,  he  was  sent  on  this  gracious  embassy; 
it  was  my  business  which  he  condescended  to 
transact;  and  therefore  he  appointed  Solomon  to 
be  a  type  of  himself;  the  very  name  Solomon  sig- 
nifying a  peace-maker.     Great  and  illustrious  as 


THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE  19 

King  David  is  represented;  yet,  because  he  was 
a  king  who  delighted  in  war,  and  because  he  was 
polluted  with  human  gore,  he  was  not  permitted 
to  build  the  house  of  the  Lord,  he  was  not  worthy 
to  be  made  the  type  o£  Christ. 

Now  then,  warrior,  halt  and  consider;  i£  wars, 
undertaken  and  carried  on  at  the  command  of  the 
Deity,  (as  was  the  case  in  David's  wars)  pollute 
and  render  a  man  unholy,  what  will  be  the  effect 
of  wars  of  ambition,  wars  of  revenge,  and  wars  of 
furious  anger?  If  the  blood  of  heathens  defiled 
the  pious  king  who  shed  it,  what  will  be  the  effect 
on  christian  kings,  of  so  copious  an  effusion  of 
the  blood  of  christians,  caused  solely  by  royal  re- 
venge? 

I  do  beseech  your  christian  majesty,  (if  you  are 
a  christian  in  any  thing  besides  your  title)  to  con- 
template the  model  of  him  who  is  your  sovereign; 
observe  how  he  entered  upon  his  reign,  how  he 
conducted  it,  how  he  departed  from  this  world, 
and  learn  to  reign  from  his  example.  You  will 
find  that  the  very  first  object  of  your  heart  should 
be,  to  preserve  your  country  in  a  state  of  peace. 

At  the  nativity  of  Christ  did  the  angels  sound 
the  clarion  of  war?  The  horrid  din  might  have 
been  addressed  to  the  ears  of  Jews,  for  they  were 
allowed  to  wage  war.  Such  auspices  were  well 
enough  adapted  to  those  who  thought  it  lawful 
to  hate  their  enemies;  but  to  the  pacific  race  of 
future  christians,  the  angels  of  peace  sounded  a 
far  different  note.  Did  they  blow  the  shrill  trum- 
pet? Did  they  promise  triumphs  and  trophies  of 
victory?  Far  from  it.  What  then  did  they  an- 
nounce?   Peace  and  good  will,  in  conformity  with 


20  THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE 

the  predictions  of  the  prophets;  and  they  an- 
nounced them  not  to  those  who  breathe  war  and 
bloodshed,  who  delight  in  the  instruments  of  de- 
struction, but  to  those  whose  hearts  are  inclined 
to  concord. 

Let  me  cover  their  malice  with  what  cloke  they 
please;  it  is  certain,  that  if  they  did  not  delight 
in  war,  they  would  not  be  constantly  engaged  in 
its  conflicts. 

But  as  for  Christ,  what  else  did  he  teach  and 
inculcate,  but  peace?  He  addressed  those  whom 
he  loved,  with  the  auspicious  words  of  peace: 
Peace  be  with  you,  he  repeatedly  says;  and  pre- 
scribes this  form  of  salutation,  as  alone  worthy 
of  the  christian  character.  And  the  apostles,  duly 
mindful  of  his  precept  and  example,  preface  their 
epistles  with  a  wish  for  peace  to  those  whom  they 
love.  He  who  wishes  health  to  his  friend,  wishes 
a  most  desirable  blessing;  but  he  who  wishes  him 
peace,  wishes  him  the  summit  of  human  felicity. 

As  Christ  had  recommended  peace  during  the 
whole  of  his  life,  mark  with  what  anxiety  he  en- 
forces it  at  the  approach  of  his  dissolution.  Love 
one  another,  says  he ;  as  I  have  loved  you,  so  love 
one  another;  and  again,  my  peace  I  give  unto  you, 
my  peace  I  leave  you.  Do  you  observe  the  legacy 
he  leaves  to  those  whom  he  loves?  Is  it  a  pompous 
retinue,  a  large  estate,  or  empire?  Nothing  of 
this  kind.  What  is  it  then?  peace  he  giveth,  his 
peace  he  leaveth;  peace,  not  only  with  our  near 
connexions,  but  with  enemies  and  strangers! 

I  wish  you  to  consider  with  me,  what  it  was 
which  he  besought  of  his  Father  in  his  last  prayer, 
at  the  last  supper,  when  death  was  at  hand.    It  was 


THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE  21 

a  remarkable  prayer  for  one  who  knew  that  he 
should  obtain  whatever  he  requested.  Father,  says 
he,  keep  them  in  thy  name,  that  they  may  be  one, 
like  as  we  are !  Observe,  I  beseech  you,  what  a 
wonderful  union  Christ  requires  in  his  followers; 
he  does  not  pray  that  they  may  be  of  one  mind, 
but  that  they  may  be  one;  nor  does  he  mention 
this  union  in  a  vague  manner,  but  says,  "That  they 
may  be  one,  as  we  are,"  who  are  one  and  the  same 
in  a  most  perfect,  yet  unspeakable  and  inexplicable 
manner.  He  indicates  at  the  same  time,  that  mor- 
tals can  obtain  salvation,  or  immortality,  by  no 
other  means  than  the  preservation  of  peace  among 
themselves,  during  the  whole  of  this  transitory 
life. 

Moreover,  as  the  kings  of  this  world  usually 
distinguish  their  subjects  by  some  mark  by  which 
they  may  be  known  from  others,  especially  in 
war,  Christ  has  distinguished  his  subjects  by  the 
badge  of  mutual  charity.  By  this,  says  he,  shall 
all  men  know  that  you  are  my  disciples;  not  if 
you  wear  this  or  that  uniform,  not  if  you  eat  this 
or  that  kind  of  food,  not  if  you  fast  on  this  or  that 
occasion,  not  if  you  say  such  or  such  a  portion  of 
the  psalms;  but  if  you  love  one  another,  and  that 
not  in  the  common  way,  but,  as  I  have  loved  you. 
The  precepts  of  philosophers  are  innuinerable,  the 
laws  of  Moses  are  various,  as  well  as  the  edicts  of 
princes;  but  one  commandment,  says  he,  I  give 
you,  and  it  is,  love  one  another. 

When  he  prescribed  a  form  of  prayer  to  his  dis- 
ciples, did  he  not  admonish  us,  in  a  wonderful 
m.anner,  in  the  very  beginning  of  it,  concerning 
the  unanimity  v/hich  christians  are  bound  to  pre- 


22  THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE 

serve?  Our  Father!  says  he.  It  is  the  prayer  of 
one;  yet  it  is  the  common  request  of  all.  All  then 
are  one  house,  one  family,  depending  upon  one 
Father;  and  how  can  it  possibly  be  allowed  that, 
in  such  circumstances,  they  should  be  tearing  each 
other  to  pieces  in  never-ceasing  wars? 

How  can  you  say  our  Father,  addressing  the 
universal  parent,  while  you  are  thrusting  the  sharp 
steel  into  the  bowels  of  your  brother?  for  such 
you  confess  him  to  be  by  this  very  prayer,  "Our 
Father." 

As  Christ  wished  the  sentiments  of  philan- 
thropy, or  universal  concord,  to  be  fixed  deeply 
in  the  hearts  of  all  his  followers,  by  v/hat  a  variety 
of  emblems,  parables,  and  precepts,  has  he  incul- 
cated the  love  of  peace!  He  calls  himself  a  shep- 
herd, and  his  followers  his  sheep.  And,  let  me 
ask,  did  you  ever  see  sheep  fighting  in  earnest 
with  their  fellow  sheep,  so  as  either  to  injure 
lim.bs,  or  destroy  life?  or,  what  greater  harm  can 
the  wolves  do,  if  the  flock  thus  tear  each  other  in 
pieces? 

When  Christ  calls  himself  the  vine,  and  his 
disciples  the  branches,  what  else  did  he  mean  to 
express,  but  the  most  perfect  union  between  him 
and  them,  and  between  themselves?  It  would  be 
a  prodigy,  indeed,  if  a  branch  were  to  contend 
Vv'ith  a  branch  of  the  same  tree;  and,  is  it  less  a 
nrodigy,  that  a  christian  fights  with  a  christian? 
(  If  there  be  anything  sacred  to  christians,  surely 
that  ought  to  be  deemicd  singularly  sacred,  and  to 
sink  deeply  into  their  hearts,  which  Christ  deliv- 
ered to  them  in  his  last  dying  commands;  when 
he  was,  as  it  were,  making  his  will  and  testament, 


THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE  23 

and  recommending  to  his  sons  those  things  which 
he  wished  might  never  fall  into  oblivion.  And 
what  is  it  which,  on  this  solemn  occasion,  he 
teaches,  commands,  prescribes,  entreats ;  but  that 
they  should  preserve  inviolate,  mutual  good-will, 
or  charity?  And  what  means  the  communion  of 
the  holy  bread  and  wine,  but  a  renewed  sanction 
of  indissoluble  amity?  As  Christ  knew  that  Peace 
could  not  be  preserved,  where  men  were  strug- 
gling for  office,  for  glory,  for  riches,  for  revenge, 
he  roots  out  from  the  hearts  of  his  disciples  all 
passions  which  lead  to  these  things;  he  forbids 
them  absolutely  and  without  exception,  to  resist 
evil ;  he  commands  them  to  do  good  to  those  who 
use  them  ill,  and  to  pray  for  those  who  curse  them. 
And,  after  this,  shall  kings  presume  to  think  them- 
selves christians,  who,  on  the  slightest  injury  em- 
broil the  world  in  war?    "^ 

He  commands  that  the  man  who  would  be  the 
chief  among  the  people,  should  be  their  servant; 
nor  endeavour  to  outdo  others  in  any  thing  else 
but  in  being  better  than  they,  and  in  doing  more 
good  to  his  fellow-mortals.  Then  are  not  certain 
persons  claiming  to  be  chiefs,  ashamed,  for  the 
sake  of  making  some  paltry  addition  to  the  out- 
skirts of  their  domains,  (already  too  large)  to  set 
the  world  in  a  flame? 

He  teaches  you  to  live  after  the  manner  of  the 
birds  of  the  air,  and  the  lilies  of  the  field ;  trust- 
ing to  Providence.  He  forbids  your  solicitude 
to  extend  to  the  morrow.  He  wishes  you  to  depend 
entirely  on  God.  He  excludes  all  rich  men,  who 
trust  in  riches,  from  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  And 
yet  are  there   crowned  miscreants,  who,   for  the 


24  THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE 

sake  of  a  poor  pittance  of  money,  perhaps,  after 
all,  not  due  to  them,  will  not  hesitate  to  spill 
torrents  of  human  blood  in  the  field  of  battle? 
Indeed,  in  these  very  times,  the  recovery  of  a  sum 
of  money  appears  to  be  a  very  good  cause  of  a 
just  and  necessary  war! 

Christ  seems  to  have  had  in  view  this  tendency 
in  men  to  contend  for  trifles,  when  he  bids  his  dis- 
ciples to  learn  of  him  to  be  meek  and  lowly,  and 
to  lay  aside  all  dispositions  to  revenge.  When  he 
orders  them  to  leave  their  gift  at  the  altar,  nor 
to  offer  it  before  they  are  reconciled  to  their 
brother,  does  he  not  plainly  insinuate,  that  una- 
nimity is  to  be  preferred  to  any  thing  else;  and 
that  no  oblation  on  the  altar  is  acceptable  to  God, 
unless  it  is  presented  by  me?  God  refused  the 
Jewish  offering,  a  goat  perhaps,  or  a  sheep,  be- 
cause it  was  offered  by  those  who  were  at  variance 
with  each  other;  and  shall  christians,  at  the  very 
time  they  are  endeavouring  to  cut  each  other's 
throats  in  the  field  of  battle,  dare  to  make  an  ob- 
lation at  the  holy  communion  of  the  Lord's  sup- 
per? When  he  condescended  to  compare  himself 
to  a  hen  gathering  her  chickens  under  her  wing, 
what  a  beautiful  and  expressive  picture  did  he 
delineate  of  christian  unity?  He  gathers  his 
chickens  under  his  wing;  and  shall  christians,  his 
professed  followers,  dare  to  act  the  part  of  hawks 
or  kites? 

Of  a  similar  tendency  is  the  comparison  of  him- 
self to  a  cornerstone,  at  once  supporting  and  uni- 
ting the  two  walls  which  rest  upon  it;  and  how 
then  can  it  be  reconcilable  to  the  profession  of 
christians,    that    those    who    call     themselves    his 


THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE  25 

vicars  or  vicegerents,  should  excite  the  whole 
world  to  arms,  and  set  kingdom  against  kingdom? 
They  profess,  as  kings  o£  christian  countries,  that 
he  is  their  great  sovereign  and  reconciler;  and  yet 
they  cannot  be  reconciled  to  each  other  by  any 
arguments  drawn  from  Christianity.  He  reconciled 
Pilate  and  Herod;  and  yet  his  own  followers  v/ill 
not  be  reconciled  by  his  intervention.  He  chides 
Peter,  though  half  a  Jew,  who  drew  a  sword  in 
his  defence  when  his  life  was  in  immediate  danger, 
and  orders  him  to  put  it  up  into  its  scabbard;  and 
yet  christians  keep  the  sword  constantly  drawn, 
and  are  ever  ready  to  use  it  on  their  brother 
christians,  on  the  most  trifling  provocation.  Could 
he  wish  himself,  or  his  cause  to  be  defended  by  a 
sword,  who,  with  his  dying  breath,  prayed  for  his 
murderers? 

Every  page  of  the  christian  scriptures,  whether 
you  read  those  parts  of  the  Old  Testament  which 
have  a  reference  to  Christianity,  or  the  New,  speaks 
of  little  else  but  peace  and  concord;  and  yet  the 
whole  life  of  the  greater  portion  of  christians  is 
employed  in  nothing  so  much  as  the  concerns  of 
war.  It  is  really  more  than  brutal  ferocity  which 
can  neither  be  broken  in,  nor  mitigated  in  its  vio- 
lence, by  so  many  concurrent  circumstances.  It 
were  best  to  lay  aside  the  name  of  christian  at 
once;  or  else  to  give  proof  of  the  doctrine  of 
Christ,  by  its  only  criterion,  brotherly  love.  How 
long  shall  your  lives  contradict  your  profession 
and  appellation?  You  may  mark  your  houses, 
your  vestments,  and  your  churches,  with  the  cross, 
as  much  as  you  please;   but  Christ  will  recognize 


26  THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE 

no  other  badge,  than  that  which  he  himself  pre- 
scribed, love  of  one  another. 

Men  gathered  together  formerly  for  the  pur- 
poses of  devotion,  saw  him  ascending  into  heaven; 
they  that  are  now  gathered  together  for  the  same 
purpose,  are  ordered  to  expect  the  descent  of  the 
Holy  Ghost:  he  has  promised  to  be  always  with 
those  that  are  for  such  purposes  gathered  to- 
gether; so  that  none  can  ever  reasonably  think  to 
find  him  in  the  field  of  battle.  With  respect  to  the 
spirit  of  fire  that  descended  on  the  apostles,  what 
is  it  but  charity?  Nothing  is  more  common  prop- 
erty than  fire.  Without  any  loss,  fire  is  lighted 
by  fire.  Would  you  be  convinced  that  this  spirit 
is  the  parent  of  concord?  Mark  the  result  of  it. 
There  was,  says  he,  among  them  one  heart  and  one 
soul.  Withdraw  the  breath  or  spirit  from  the 
body,  and  immediately  the  fine  contexture  of  its 
parts  is  totally  destroyed.  In  like  manner,  with- 
draw peace,  and  the  whole  mysterious  union  with 
heaven,  which  forms  the  divine  life,  is  at  once 
dissolved.  Divines  tell  us,  that  the  heavenly  spirit 
is  infused  into  our  hearts  by  the  sacrament.  If 
they  tell  us  true,  where  is  that  peculiar  effect  of 
this  spirit  in  those  who  take  the  sacrament,  the 
one  heart  and  the  one  soul?  But  if  they  tell  us 
only  an  amusing  story,  why  is  such  honour  paid 
to  useless  things?  So  much  I  have  ventured  to 
say,  not  for  the  sake  of  detracting  from  the  sanc- 
tity of  the  sacrament,  but  that  christians  may 
blush  to  find  their  manners  correspond  so  little 
with  their  solemn  profession. 

What  is  meant  by  denominating  the  whole  body 
of  christian  people,  the  church,  but  that  it  should 


THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE  27 

admonish  them  that  they  are  united,  and  ought 
therefore  to  be  unanimous?  Now,  what  possible 
agreement  can  there  be  between  camps  and  a 
church?  A  church  implies  union  and  association; 
camps,  disunion  and  discord.  If  you  say  you  be- 
long to  the  church,  what  can  you  have  to  do  with 
the  operations  of  war?  If  you  say  you  do  not 
belong  to  the  church  what  have  you  to  do  with 
Christ? 

But  if  you  are  all  of  the  same  house;  if  you  all 
acknowledge  the  same  head  and  master  of  the 
family ;  if  you  all  militate  under  the  same  captain ; 
if  you  all  receive  the  same  largesses,  and  are  main- 
tained by  the  same  pay;  if  you  are  all  in  pursuit 
of  the  same  great  prize,  why  these  tumults  and 
disorders  in  your  march?  You  see  among  those 
unnatural  and  cruel  comrades,  who  advance  in 
troops  to  perform  the  work  of  human  butchery  for 
hire,  perfect  concord  maintained,  because  they  are 
led  on  under  the  same  standards;  and  shall  not 
so  many  pacific  circumstances  unite  the  hearts  of 
those  whose  bloodless  warfare  is  to  promote  piety 
and  peace?  Do  so  many  sacraments  avail  nothing 
in  producing  unanimity? 

Baptism  is  common  to  you  all;  by  means  of  this 
you  are  born  again  to  Christ;  you  are  cutt  off  from 
the  world,  and  become  ingrafted  members  of  the 
body  of  Christ.  Now  what  can  conduce  so  much 
to  unity  and  identity,  as  to  be  made  members  of 
one  and  the  same  body?  From  this  incorporation 
with  Christ,  the  petty  distinctions  of  bond  and 
free,  greek  and  barbarian,  male  and  female,  cease 
to  separate  mankind ;  and  all  are  one  in  Christ, 
who   brings   them   all,   whatever   their    local    and 


28  THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE 

phj'^sical  diversities  may  be,  to  unity  and  identity 
of  heart  and  disposition. 

Among  the  scythians,  they  have  a  ceremony  of 
drinking  a  drop  of  each  other's  blood  out  of  a 
cup,  as  a  cement  of  friendship ;  after  which,  those 
who  have  partaken  of  it  will  hesitate  at  no  hard- 
ship in  the  service  of  each  other,  and  will  meet 
death  itself  with  alacrity,  in  mutual  defence. 
Shall  heathens  then  deem  that  concord  inviolable, 
which  a  participation  of  a  draught  at  the  same 
table  has  sanctioned;  and  shall  not  christians  be 
kept  in  love  and  charity  by  that  heavenly  bread, 
and  that  mystic  cup,  which  Christ  himself  or- 
dained, in  which  they  every  day  communicate, 
constantly  repeating,  with  the  most  solemn  rites, 
the  holy  feast  of  love?  If  Christ  meant  nothing 
by  this  institution  why  is  it  kept  up  among  chris- 
tians to  this  day,  with  so  many  ceremonies?  If 
he  meant  the  most  serious  and  important  benefit 
to  mankind,  then  why  is  it  slightly  regarded  by 
you,  as  if  it  were  a  farce,  or  a  mere  scenic  exhibi- 
tion? Does  any  man  presume  to  go  to  that  table, 
the  symbol  of  love;  does  any  one  presume  to  ap- 
proach the  feast  of  peace,  who,  at  the  same  mo- 
ment, meditates  war  against  christians,  and  is  pre- 
paring to  destroy  those  whom  Christ  died  to  save, 
to  spill  the  blood  of  those  for  whom  Christ  shed 
his  own! 

Hearts  unfeeling  as  the  flint!  In  many  partic- 
ulars you  are  united  by  nature  and  necessity;  yet 
in  life  and  action,  where  you  may  freely  choose 
your  conduct,  you  are  rent  asunder  by  unaccount- 
able dissension  and  strife!     By  the  law  of  nature, 


THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE  29 

you  are  all  born  into  the  world,  of  a  woman;  by 
the  law  of  necessity,  you  all  wax  old  and  feeble, 
and  then  sink  into  the  grave.  You  are  all  sprung 
from  the  same  first  parent;  you  have  all  the  same 
divine  author  of  your  religion;  you  are  all  re- 
deemed by  the  same  blood,  initiated  in  the  same 
holy  rites,  nourished  in  your  spiritual  growth  by 
the  same  sacraments ;  and  whatever  advantage  flows 
from  all  these  combined,  flows  from  the  same  foun- 
tain, and  flows  equally  to  all.  You  have  all  the 
same  church,  and  all  look  for  the  same  reward. 

That  heavenly  Jerusalem,  for  which  every  true 
christian  pants,  derives  its  name  from  the  beatific 
vision  of  peace,  of  which  the  church,  in  the  mean 
time,  is  a  typical  representation.  And  how  hap- 
pens it,  that  the  church  itself  differs  so  widely 
from  its  holy  examples?  Has  nature  availed  noth- 
ing in  her  various  instructions  and  lessons  of  love? 
Has  Christ  availed  nothing,  with  all  his  mysteries, 
all  his  precepts,  all  his  symbols  of  peace? 

Adversity,  or  evil,  if  not  good,  will  cause  bad 
men  to  cling  together;  but  neither  adversity  nor 
prosperity,  neither  good  nor  evil,  will  effect  a 
perfect  coalition  among  christians.  Let  us  turn 
our  attention  to  the  adverse  side,  the  evils  of  life, 
and  see  if  they  produce  any  effect  in  urging  chris- 
tians to  unite  for  mutual  comfort  and  protection. 

What  is  more  brittle  than  the  life  of  man?  Sup- 
posing it  unbroken  by  casualties,  how  short  its 
natural  duration !  How  liable  to  disease ;  how 
exposed  to  momentary  accidents!  Yet,  though 
the  natural  and  inevitable  evils  are  more  and 
greater  than  can  be  borne  with  patience,  man,  fool 
as  he  is,  brings  the  greatest  and  worst  calamities 


30  THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE 

upon  his  own  head.  Though  condemned  to  feel  the 
effects  of  his  folly,  yet  so  blind  is  he  that  he  can- 
not see  it.  Headlong  he  goes  with  an  impetuosity 
so  precipitate  as  to  burst  and  tear  asunder  every 
tie  of  nature,  every  bond  of  Christ.  To  arms  he 
rushes  at  all  times  and  in  all  places;  no  bounds 
to  his  fury,  no  end  to  his  destructive  vengeance. 
Together  they  engage,  nation  with  nation,  city 
with  city,  king  with  king;  and  to  gratify  the  folly 
or  greedy  ambition  of  two  poor  puny  mortals, 
who  shortly  shall  die  by  nature,  like  insects  of  a 
summer's  day,  all  human  affairs  are  disarranged, 
and  whirled  in  confusion.  I  will  pass  over  the 
sad  tragedy  of  war,  acted  on  the  bloody  stage  of 
the  world  in  times  long  past. 

Let  us  only  take  a  retrospect  of  the  last  ten  years. 
In  what  part  of  the  world,  during  that  short  space, 
have  there  not  been  bloody  battles  both  by  sea- 
and  land?  What  country  in  which  the  earth  has 
not  been  fertilized  with  the  blood  of  christians 
shed  by  christians?  What  river  or  sea  that  has  not 
been  discoloured  with  purple  tide  of  human  gore? 
Yes,  I  am  ashamed  to  declare,  that  christians  fight 
more  savagely  than  jews,  than  heathens,  than  the 
beasts  of  the  field?  The  warlike  spirit  which  the 
jews  displayed  towards  aliens,  christians  are  bound 
to  display  against  their  vices;  but,  on  the  contrary, 
they  chuse  to  be  at  peace  with  their  vices,  and  at 
war.  with  their  fellow-creatures.  And  yet,  as  an 
apology  for  the  jews,  it  must  be  said,  that  they 
were  led  to  war,  in  a  particular  case,  by  divine 
command,  for  the  purpose  of  divine  Providence; 
while  the  christians  (remove  but  the  poor  flimsy 
veil  of  false  pretexts,  and  judge  according  to  real 


THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE  31 

truth)  you  will  find  hurried  into  the  crooked  path 
of  ambition  by  anger,  the  very  worst  counsellor, 
and  allured  to  shed  blood  by  an  insatiable  avarice 
of  gold.  The  jews  waged  war  with  foreign  na- 
tions; while  the  christians  are,  with  the  Turks,  at 
peace,  and,  with  one  another,  at  war! 

As  to  the  heathen  despots,  it  is  true,  the  thirst 
of  glory  goaded  them  to  battle ;  but  yet  even  they 
conquered  fierce  and  barbarous  nations  to  civilize 
them;  insomuch,  that  it  was  often  an  advantage 
to  be  conquered,  the  conquerors  endeavouring  to 
render  every  service  in  their  power  to  the  people 
whom  they  had  subdued.  They  took  pains  to 
render  their  victories  as  little  bloody  as  possible, 
that  the  conqueror  might  be  rewarded  with  a  more 
honourable  renown,  and  that  the  clemency  of  the 
victor  might  afford  consolation  to  the  vanquished. 
But  I  blush  to  record,  upon  hpjsz-infamously  friv- 
olous causes  the  world  has  been  rouzed  to  arms 
by  christian  kings.  One  of  them  has  found,  or- 
forged,  an  obsolete  musty  parchment,  on  which  he 
makes  a  claim  to  a  neighbouring  territory.  As  if 
it  signified  a  straw  to  mankind,  thus  called  upon 
to  shed  blood,  who  is  the  person,  or  what  the  fam- 
ily of  the  ruling  prince,  whoever  he  be,  provided 
he  governs  in  such  a  manner  as  to  consult  and  pro- 
mote public  felicity. 

Another  alleges  that  some  punctilio,  in  a  treaty 
of  a  hundred  articles,  has  been  infringed  or  neg- 
lected. A  third  owes  a  neighbouring  king  a  secret 
grudge,  on  a  private  account,  because  he  has  mar- 
ried some  princess  whom  he  intended  to  be  his 
consort,  or  uttered  some  sarcasm  that  reflects  upon 
his  royal  person  and  character. 


32  THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE 

And,  what  is  the  basest  and  most  flagitious  con- 
duct o£  all,  there  are  crowned  heads,  who,  with  the 
mean  cunning  that  ever  characterizes  the  despot, 
contrive  (because  they  find  their  ov/n  power  weak- 
ened by  the  people's  union,  and  strengthened  by 
their  division)  to  excite  war  without  any  substan- 
tial reason  for  a  rupture;  merely  to  break  the 
national  union  at  home,  and  pillage  the  oppressed 
people  with  impunity.  There  are  infernal  agents 
enough,  who  fatten  on  the  plunder  of  the  people, 
and  have  little  to  do  in  state  affairs  during  the 
time  of  peace,  who  easily  manage  to  bring  about 
the  wished-for  rupture,  and  embroil  an  unoffend- 
ing people  in  a  war  with  an  unoffending  neigh- 
bour. Nothing  but  a  fury  of  hell  could  instil  such 
venom  into  the  bosom  of  a  christian. 

Cruelty   of   despotism   like   this,    in   the   hearts 
of    kings    pretending    to    Christianity,   was    never 
equalled   by   Dionysius,    Mezentius,    Phalaris,   the 
most    infamous   tyrants   of   antiquity!      Degraded 
wretches!     Brutes,  not  men!     Great  only  by  the 
abuse  of  greatness!     Fools  in  every  thing  but  the 
art  of  doing  mischief!  unanimous  in  nothing  but 
in   defrauding  and   oppressing   the   public!     Yet,/- 
wretches,  brutes,  and  fools  as  they  are,  they  are^ 
called  christians,  and  have  the   impudence  to  go    ^ 
with  a  face  of  piety  to  church,  and  dare  even  to    / 
kneel  at  the  altar.     Pests  of  mankind,  worthy  to /^^ 
be  transported  out   of  civil   society,   and   carried  \ 
with  convicts  to  the  remotest  islands,  in  exile  for 
life. 

If  it  be  true  that  christians  are  members  of  one 
body,  how  happens   it  that   every  christian  does 


THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE  33 

not  sympathize  and  rejoice  in  every  other  chris- 
tian's welfare?  Now,  however,  it  seems  to  be 
cause  enough  to  commence  a  just  and  necessary 
war,  that  a  neighbouring  land  is  in  a  more  pros- 
perous, flourishing,  or  free  condition,  than  your 
own.  For,  if  you  can  but  prevail  upon  yourselves 
to  speak  the  real  truth,  what,  I  ask,  has  excited, 
and  what  continues  at  this  very  day  to  excite,  so 
many  combined  powers  against  the  kingdom  of 
France,  unless  it  be,  that  it  is  the  finest  and  most 
flourishing  country  in  Europe?  Nowhere  is  there 
a  more  extensive  territory;  nowhere  a  more  august 
public  council;  nowhere  greater  unanimity,  and, 
on  all  these  accounts  united,  nowhere  greater 
power.  . .  .^ 

God  made  man  unarmed.  But  anger  and  re- 
venge have  mended  the  work  of  God,  and  fur- 
nished his  hands  with  weapons  invented  in  hell.  / 
Christians  attack  christians  with  engines  of  de- 
struction, fabricated  by  the  devil,  A  cannon !  a 
mortar!  no  human  being  could  have  devised  them 
originally;  they  must  have  been  suggested  by  the 
evil  one.  Nature,  indeed,  has  armed  lions  with 
teeth  and  claws,  and  bulls  with  horns;  but  who 
ever  saw  them  go  in  bodies  to  use  their  arms  for 
mutual  destruction?  What  man  ever  saw  so  small 
a  number  as  even  ten  lions  congregated  to  fight 
ten  bulls,  and  drawn  up  in  battle  array?  But  how 
often  have  twenty  thousand  christians  met  an 
equal  number  on  the  same  plain,  all  prepared  to 
shoot  each  other,  through  the  heart,  or  to  plunge 

1  A  few  lines  are  here  omitted,  because,  though  descrip- 
tive of  France  in  the  days  of  Erasmus,  they  now  bear  but 
little  resemblance  to  it. 


34  THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE 

the  sword  or  bayonet  through  each  other's  bowels. 
So  little  account  do  they  make  of  hurting  their 
brethren,  that  they  have  not  the  smallest  scruple 
to  spill  every  drop  of  blood  in  their  bodies.  Beasts 
of  the  forest;  your  contests  are  at  least  excusable, 
and  sometimes  amiable;  ye  fight  only  when  driven 
to  madness  by  hunger,  or  to  defend  your  young 
ones;  but  as  for  those  who  call  themselves  your 
lords,  (men  and  christians)  the  faintest  shadow 
of  an  affront  is  sufficient  to  involve  them  in  all  the 
horrors  of  premeditated  war. 

If  the  lower  orders  of  the  people  were  to  act  in 
this  manner,  some  apology  might  be  found  in  their 
supposed  ignorance;  if  very  young  men  were  to 
act  in  this  manner,  the  inexperience  of  youth 
might  be  pleaded  in  extenuation;  if  the  poor  laity 
only  were  concerned,  the  frailty  of  the  agents 
might  lessen  the  atrocity  of  the  action:  but  the 
very  reverse  of  this  is  the  truth.  The  seeds  of  '^ 
war  are  chiefly  sown  by  those  very  people  whose, 
wisdom  and  moderation,  characteristic  of  their 
rank  and  station,  ought  to  compose  and  assuage 
the  impetuous  passions  of  the  people. 

The  people,  the  ignoble  vulgar,  despised  as  they 
are,  are  the  very  persons  who  originally  raise  great 
and  fair  cities  to  their  proud  eminence;  who  con- 
duct the  commercial  business  of  them  entirely; 
and,  by  their  excellent  management,  fill  them  with 
opulence.  Into  these  cities,  after  they  are  raised 
and  enriched  by  plebeians,  creep  the  satraps  and 
grandees,  like  so  many  drones  into  a  hive;  pilfer 
what  was  earned  by  others'  industry;  and  thus, 
what  was  accumulated  by  the  labour  of  the  many, 


THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE  35 

is  dissipated  by  the  profligacy  of  the  few;  what 
was  built  by  plebeians  on  upright  foundations,  is 
leveled  to  the  ground  by  cruelty  and  royal  patri- 
cian injustice. 

If  the  military  transactions  of  old  time  are  not 
worth  remembrance,  let  him  who  can  bear  the 
loathsome  employ,  only  call  to  mind  the  wars  of  ■ 
the  last  twelve  years;  let  him  attentively  consider 
the  causes  of  them  all,  and  he  will  find  them  all) 
to  have  been  undertaken  for  the  sake  of  kings;  all' 
of  them  carried  on  with  infinite  detriment  to  the 
people;  while,  in  most  instances,  the  people  had 
not  the  smallest  conern  either  in  their  origin  or 
their  issue. 

Then,  as  to  young  men  being  chiefly  concerned 
in  this  mischief  of  exciting  war;  so  far  from  it, 
that  you  hide  your  grey  hairs  with  a  helmet; 
canitiem  galea  premitis;  and  you  deem  it  an  hon- 
our to  the  hoary  head  of  a  christian,  to  encourage, 
or  even  take  an  active  part  in  war,  though  the 
heathen  poet,  Ovid,  says,  ''turpe  senex  miles;'' 
that  an  old  man,  a  warrior!  is  a  loathsome  object. 
Ovid's  countrymen  would  have  considered  a  fight- 
ing-man, or  one  that  set  others  to  fight,  at  seventy 
years  old,  a  blood-thirsty  dotard,  with  one  foot  in 
his  grave,  a  monster  of  wickedness  and  folly. 

As  to  the  laity  only  being  concerned,  it  is  so 
far  from  true,  that  priests,  whom  God,  under  the 
severe  and  sanguinary  dispensation  of  Moses,  for- 
bade to  be  polluted  with  blood,  do  not  blush;  that 
christian  divines  and  preachers,  the  guides  of  our 
lives,  do  not  blush;  that  professors  of  the  purest 
divinity  do  not  blush;  that  neither  bishops,  car- 
dinals, nor  Christ's  own  vicars,  blush,  to  become 


36  THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE 

the  instie^ators,  the  very  fire-brands  of  war,  against 
which  Christ,  from  whom  they  all  pretend  to  de- 
rive the  only  authority  they  can  have,  expressed 
his  utter  detestation. 

What  possible  consistency  can  there  be  between 
a  mitre  and  a  helmet,  a  pastoral  staff  and  a  sabre? 
between  the  volume  of  the  gospel  and  a  shield  and 
buckler?  How  can  it  be  consistent  to  salute  the 
people  with  the  words,  "peace  be  with  you,"  and, 
at  the  same  time,  to  be  exciting  the  whole  world 
to  bloody  war!  with  the  lips  to  speak  peace,  and 
with  the  hand,  and  every  power  of  action,  to  be 
urging  on  havoc?  Dare  you  describe  Christ  as  a 
reconciler,  a  Prince  of  Peace,  and  yet  palliate  or 
commend  war,  with  the  same  tongue;  which  in 
truth,  is  nothing  less  than  to  sound  the  trumpet 
before  Christ  and  Satan  at  the  same  time?  Do 
you  presume,  reverend  sir,  with  your  hood  and 
surplice  on,  to  stimulate  the  simple,  inoffensive 
people  to  war,  when  they  come  to  church,  expect- 
ing to  hear  from  your  mouth  the  gospel  of  peace? 
Are  you  not  apprehensive,  lest  what  was  said  by 
those  who  announced  the  coming  of  Christ,  "how 
beautiful  are  the  feet  of  him  that  bringeth  glad 
tidings  of  peace;  who  bringeth  tidings  of  good, 
who  bringeth  tidings  of  salvation!"  should  be  re- 
versed, and  addressed  to  you  in  this  manner:  "how 
foul  is  the  tongue  of  priests;  exhorting  to  war, 
inciting  to  evil,  and  urging  men  to  destruction." 
Think  of  the  incongruous  idea,  a  bloody  priest ! 

Among  the  old  Romans,  who  retained  something 
of  true  piety  in  the  midst  of  heathenism,  whoever 
entered  on  the  office  of  pontifex  maximus,  or  high 
priest,  was  obliged  to  swear  that  he  would  keep 


THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE  37 

his  hands  unstained  with  blood;  and  that,  i£  he 
were  provoked,  or  even  hurt  by  any  aggressor,  he 
would  not  avenge  the  injury.  Titus  Vespasian, 
a  heathen  emperor,  kept  the  oath  religiously,  and 
is  highly  commended  for  it  by  a  heathen  writer. 
But  among  christians,  as  if  shame  had  fled  from 
earth,  clergymen,  solemnly  consecrated  to  God, 
are  often  among  the  first  to  inflame  the  minds, 
both  of  king  and  people,  to  blood  and  devastation. 
They  convert  the  sweet  accents  of  the  gospel  to 
the  trumpet  of  Mars;  and,  forgetting  the  dignity 
of  their  profession,  run  about  making  proselytes 
to  their  opinion,  ready  to  do  or  suffer  any  thing, 
so  long  as  they  can  but  succeed  in  kindling  the 
flames  of  war. 

Kings  who  perhaps  might  otherwise  have  kept 
quiet,  are  set  on  fire  by  those  very  men,  who  ought, 
if  they  acted  in  character,  to  cool  the  ardour  of 
warring  potentates  by  their  official  and  sacred 
authority.  Nay,  what  is  more  monstrous  still, 
clergymen  actually  wage  war  in  person,  and  with 
a  view  to  obtain  shares  in  prizes  or  preferments; 
things,  which  the  philosophers  among  the  hea- 
thens held  in  contempt;  and  the  contempt  of 
which  is  the  peculiar  and  appropriate  distinction 
of  men  who  profess  to  follow  the  apostles. 

A  very  few  years  ago,  when  the  world,  labour- 
ing under  a  deadly  fever,  was  running  headlong  to 
arms,  the  gospel  trumpeters  blew  a  blast  from  the 
pulpit,  and  inflamed  the  wretched  kings  of  Europe 
to  a  paroxysm,  running  as  they  were  fast  enough 
of  themselves  into  a  state  of  downright  insanity. 
Among  the  english,  the  clergy  fulminated  from 
the    pulpit    against    the    french;    and    among    the 


426143 


38  THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE 

french,  against  the  english.  They  all  united  in 
instigating  to  war.  Not  one  man  among  the  clery 
exhorted  to  peace;  or,  at  least,  not  above  one  or 
two,  whose  lives  would  perhaps  be  in  danger,  i£  I 
were  even  now  to  name  them. 

The  right  reverend  fathers  in  God,  the  holy 
bishops,  forgetting  their  personal  and  professional 
dignity,  were  continually  running  to  and  fro,^  like 
the  evil-one,  adding  virulence  to  the  public  dis- 
ease of  the  world,  by  their  mischievous  officious- 
ness;  instigating,  on  one  hand,  Julius  the  pope, 
and,  on  the  other,  the  surrounding  kings,  to  push 
on  the  war  with  vigour;  as  if  both  pope  and  kings 
were  not  mad  enough  without  their  inflammatory 
suggestions.  In  the  m.ean  time,  the  fathers  in 
God  failed  not  to  call  their  bloodthirsty  rage,  a 
^zeal  for  law,  order,  and  religion. 

To  forward  their  sanguinary  purposes,  they 
wrest  the  laws  of  heaven  to  a  constructive  mean- 
ing never  meant,  they  misinterpret  the  writings 
of  good  men,  they  misquote  and  misrepresent  the 
sacred  scripture,  I  do  not  say,  with  the  most  bare- 
faced impudence  only,  but  the  most  blasphemous 
impiety.  Nay,  matters  are  corne  to  such  a  pass, 
that  It  is  deemed  foolish  and  wicked  to  open  one's 
mouth  against  war,  or  to  venture  a  syllable  in 
praise  of  peace;  the  constant  them.e  of  Christ's 
eulogy.  He  is  thought  to  be  ill  affected  to  the 
king,  and  even  to  pay  but  little  regard  to  the 
people's  interest,  who  recommends  what  is  of  all 
things  in  the  world  the  most  salutary,  to  both 
king  and  people,  or  dissuades  from  that  which, 
without  any  exception,  is  the  most  destructive. 

In  addition  to  all  this,  chaplains  follow  the  army 


THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE  39 

to  the  field  of  battle;  bishops  preside  in  the  camp, 
and,  abandoning  their  churches,  enlist  in  the  ser- 
vice of  Bellona.  The  war  multiplies  priests, 
bishops,  and  cardinals,  among  whom,  to  be  a  camp 
legate  is  deemed  an  honourable  preferment,  and 
worthy  the  successors  of  the  apostles.  It  is  there- 
fore the  less  wonderful  that  priests  should  breathe 
the  spirit  of  Mars,  to  whom  Mars  gives  ecclesias- 
tical rank,  together  with  loaves  and  fishes. 

It  is  a  circumstance  which  renders  the  evil  less 
capable  of  remedy,  that  the  clergy  cover  over  this 
most  irreligious  conduct  with  the  cloke  of  re- 
ligion. The  colours  in  the  regiments,  (conse- 
crated by  ministers  of  peace!)  bear  the  figure  of 
the  cross  painted  upon  them.  The  unfeeling  mer- 
cenary soldier,  hired  by  a  few  pieces  of  paltry 
coin,  to  do  the  v>?ork  of  man-butcher,  carries  before 
him  the  standard  of  the  cross;  and  that  very  figure 
becomes  the  symbol  of  war,  which  alone  ought  to 
teach  every  one  that  looks  at  it,  that  war  ought 
to  be  utterly  abolished.  What  hast  thou  to  do 
with  the  cross  of  Christ  on  thy  banners,  thou 
blood-stained  soldier?  With  such  a  disposition 
as  thine;  with  deeds  like  thine,  of  robbery  and 
m.urder,  thy  proper  standard  would  be  a  dragon, 
a  tiger,  or  a  wolf! 

That  cross  is  the  standard  of  him  who  con- 
quered, not  by  fighting,  but  by  dying;  who  came, 
not  to  destroy  men's  lives,  but  to  save  them.  It 
is  a  standard,  the  very  sight  of  which  might  teach 
you  what  sort  of  enemies  you  have  to  war  against, 
if  you  are  a  christian,  and  how  you  may  be  sure  to 
gain  the  victory. 

I  see  you,  while  the  standard  of  salvation  is  in 


40  THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE 

one  hand,  rushing  on  with  a  sword  in  the  other, 
to  the  murder  of  your  brother;  and,  under  the 
banner  of  the  cross,  destroying  the  life  of  one 
who  to  the  cross  owes  his  salvation.  Even  from 
the  holy  sacrament  itself,  (for  it  is  sometimes,  at 
the  same  hour,  administered  in  opposite  cam.ps) 
in  which  is  signified  the  complete  union  of  all 
christians,  the  warriors,  who  have  just  received  it, 
run  instantly  to  arms,  and  endeavour  to  plunge 
the  dreadful  steel  into  each  other's  vitals.  Of  a 
scene  thus  infernal,  and  fit  only  for  the  eyes  of 
accursed  spirits,  who  delight  in  mischief  and  mis- 
ery, the  pious  warriors  would  make  Christ  the 
spectator,  if  it  could  be  supposed  that  he  would  be 
present  at  it. 

The  absurdest  circumstance  of  all  those  respect- 
ing the  use  of  the  cross  as  a  standard  is,  that  you 
see  it  glittering  and  waving  high  in  air  in  both  the 
contending  armies  at  once.  Divine  service  is  also 
performed  to  the  same  Christ  in  both  armies  at 
the  same  time.  What  a  shocking  sight?  Lo ! 
crosses  dashing  against  crosses,  and  Christ  on  this 
side  firing  bullets  at  Christ  on  the  other;  cross 
against  cross,  and  Christ  against  Christ.  The 
banner  of  the  cross,  significant  of  the  christian 
profession,  is  used  on  each  side,  to  strike  terror 
into  the  opposite  enemy.  How  dare  they,  on  this 
occasion,  to  attack  what,  on  all  others,  they  adore? 
Because  they  are  unworthy  to  bear  the  true  cross 
at  all,  and  rather  deserve  to  be  themselves  cruci- 
fied. 

Let  us  now  imagine  we  hear  a  soldier,  among 
these  fighting  christians,  saying  the  Lord's  prayer. 
"Our  Father,"  says  he;  O  hardened  wretch!  can 


THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE  41 

you  call  him  father,  when  you  are  just  going  to 
cut  your  brother's  throat?  "Hallowed  be  thy 
name:"  how  can  the  name  of  God  be  more  impi- 
ously unhallowed,  than  by  mutual  bloody  murder 
among  you,  his  sons?  "Thy  kingdom  come:"  do 
you  pray  for  the  coming  of  his  kingdom,  while 
you  are  endeavouring  to  establish  an  earthly  des- 
potism, by  spilling  the  blood  of  God's  sons  and 
subjects?  "Thy  will  be  done  on  earth  as  it  is  in 
heaven:"  his  will  in  heaven,  is  for  peace,  but  you 
are  now  meditating  war.  Dare  you  to  say  to  your 
Father  in  heaven  "Give  us  this  day  our  daily 
bread;"  when  you  are  going,  the  next  minute  per- 
haps, to  burn  up  your  brother's  corn-fields;  and 
had  rather  lose  the  benefit  of  them  yourself,  than 
suffer  him  to  enjoy  them  unmolested?  With  what 
face  can  you  say,  "Forgive  us  our  trespasses  as 
we  forgive  them  that  trespass  against  us,"  when, 
so  far  from  forgiving  your  own  brother,  you  are 
going,  with  all  the  haste  you  can,  to  murder  him 
in  cold  blood,  for  an  alleged  trespass  that,  after 
all,  is  but  imaginary.  Do  you  presume  to  depre- 
cate the  danger  of  temptation,  who,  not  without 
great  danger  to  yourself,  are  doing  all  you  can 
to  force  your  brother  into  danger?  Do  you  de- 
serve to  be  delivered  from  evil,  that  is,  from  the 
evil  being,  to  whose  impulse  you  submit  yourself, 
and  by  whose  spirit  you  are  now  guided,  in  con- 
triving the  greatest  possible  evil  to  your  brother? 
Plato  somewhere  says,  that  when  grecians  war 
with  grecians,  (notwithstanding  they  were  sepa- 
rate and  independent  dynasties)  it  is  not  a  war, 
but  an  insurrection.  He  would  not  consider  them 
as  a  separate  people,  because  they  were  united  in 


42  THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE 

name  and  by  vicinity.  And  yet  the  christians  will 
call  it  a  war,  and  a  just  and  necessary  war  too, 
which,  on  the  most  trifling  occasion,  with  such 
soldiery  and  such  weapons,  one  people  professing 
Christianity,  wages  war  with  another  people  hold- 
ing exactly  the  same  creed,  and  professing  the 
same  Christianity. 

The  laws  of  some  heathen  nations  ordained, 
that  he  who  should  stain  his  sword  with  a  brother's 
blood,  should  be  sewed  up  in  a  sack,  and  thrown 
into  the  common  sewer.  Now  they  are  no  less 
strongly  united  as  brothers  whom  Christ  has  frat- 
ernized, than  those  who  are  related  by  consanguin- 
ity. And  yet,  in  war,  there  is  a  reward  instead  of 
punishment  for  murdering  a  brother.  Wretched 
is  the  alternative  forced  upon  us  by  war.  He  who 
conquers  is  a  murderer  of  his  brother;  and  he 
who  is  conquered,  dies  equally  guilty  of  fratri- 
cide, because  he  did  his  best  to  commit  it. 

After  all  this  unchristian  cruelty,  and  all  this 
inconsistency,  the  christian  warriors  execrate  the 
Turks  as  a  tribe  of  unbelievers,  strangers  to  Christ ; 
just  as  if,  while  they  act  in  this  manner,  they 
were  christians  themselves;  or  as  if  there  could 
be  a  more  agreeable  sight  to  the  turks  than  to  be- 
hold the  christians  running  each  other  through 
the  body  with  the  bayonet.  The  turks,  say  the 
christians,  sacrifice  to  the  devil;  but,  as  there  can 
be  no  victim  so  acceptable  to  the  devil  as  a  chris- 
tian sacrificed  by  a  christian,  are  not  you,  my  good 
christian,  sacrificing  to  the  devil  as  much  as  the 
turk?  Indeed,  the  evil  one  has  in  this  case  the 
pleasure  of  two  victims  at  a  time,  since  he  who 
sacrifices  is  no  less  his  victim  than  he  who  is  sacri- 


THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE  43 

ficed  by  the  hand  of  a  christian  and  the  sword  of 
war.  If  any  one  favours  the  turks,  and  wishes  to 
be  on  good  terms  with  the  devil,  let  him  offer  up 
such  victims  as  these. 

But  I  am  well  aware  of  the  excuse  which  men, 
ever  ingenious  in  devising  mischief  to  themselves 
as  well  as  others,  offer  in  extenuation  of  their 
conduct  in  going  to  war.  They  allege,  that  they 
are  compelled  to  it ;  that  they  are  dragged  against 
their  will  to  war.  I  answer  them,  deal  fairly;  pull 
off  the  mask;  throw  away  all  false  colours;  consult 
your  own  heart,  and  you  will  find  that  anger,  am- 
bition, and  folly  are  the  compulsory  force  that  has 
dragged  you  to  war,  and  not  any  necessity;  unless 
indeed  you  call  the  insatiable  cravings  of  a  cov- 
etous mind,  necessity. 

Reserve  your  outside  pretences  to  deceive  the 
thoughtless  vulgar.  God  is  not  mocked  with  paint 
and  varnish.  Solemn  days  and  forms  of  fasting, 
prayer,  and  thanksgiving,  are  appointed.  Loud 
petitions  are  offered  up  to  heaven  for  peace.  The 
priests  and  the  people  roar  out  as  vociferously  as 
they  can  "give  peace  in  our  time,  O  Lord !  We 
beseech  thee  to  hear  us,  O  Lord."  Might  not  the 
Lord  very  justly  ansv/er  and  say,  "why  mock  ye  me, 
ye  hypocrites?  You  fast  and  pray  that  I  would 
avert  a  calamity  which  you  have  brought  upon 
your  own  heads.  You  are  deprecating  an  evil,  of 
which   yourselves   are    the   authors." 

Now,  if  every  possible  offence,  every  little  oc- 
currence not  exactly  to  one's  mind,  is  to  excite  a 
war,  what  is  there  in  human  affairs  that  will  not 
furnish  an  occasion  of  deadly  strife?  In  the  ten- 
derest  connections  of  domestic  life,  and  between 


44  THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE 

the  most  affectionate  husbands  and  wives,  there 
is  always  some  fault  to  be  connived  at,  some  omis- 
sion or  commission  to  be  mutually  forgiven,  some 
occasion  for  reciprocal  forbearance;  unless  you 
assert  that  it  would  be  better  to  cut  asunder,  on 
the  first  dispute,  all  ties  of  affection. 

Suppose  some  differences,  like  those  of  conjugal 
life,  to  happen  between  neighbouring  princes,  why 
should  they  immediately  draw  the  sword,  and  pro- 
ceed to  the  last  sad  extremities?  There  are  laws, 
there  are  sagacious  men,  there  are  worthy  clergy- 
men, there  are  right  reverend  bishops,  by  whose 
salutary  advice  all  disagreements  might  be  recon- 
ciled, and  all  disturbance  checked  at  its  origin. 
Why  do  kings  not  make  these,  instead  of  the 
sword,  their  umpires?  Even  if  the  arbitrators 
were  unjust,  which  is  not  likely,  when  removed 
from  all  undue  influence,  the  disagreeing  parties 
would  come  off  with  less  injury  than  if  they  had 
recourse  to  arms;  to  the  irrational  and  doubtful 
decision  of  war. 

There  is  scarcely  any  peace  so  unjust,  but  it  is 
preferable,  upon  the  whole,  to  the  justest  war. 
Sit  down,  before  you  draw  the  sword,  weigh  every 
article,  omit  none,  and  compute  the  expence  of 
blood  as  well  as  treasure  which  war  requires,  and 
the  evils  which  it  of  necessity  brings  with  it; 
and  then  see  at  the  bottom  of  the  account  whether, 
after  the  greatest  success,  there  is  likely  to  be  a 
balance  in  your  favour. 

The  authority  of  the  Roman  pontiff  is  allowed 
to  be  paramount  and  decisive.  Kings  themselves 
allow  it.  And  yet  when  nations,  when  kings  are 
violently  engaged  in  the  most  unnatural  wars  for 


THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE  45 

years  together,  where  is  then  the  paramount  and 
decisive  authority  of  the  pontiff,  where  then  the 
power  said  to  be  second  to  none  but  Christ  in 
heaven?  On  this  occasion,  if  on  any,  this  high 
power  would  be  exerted,  if  the  high  pontiffs  them- 
selves were  not  slaves  themselves  to  the  same  vile 
passions  as  the  wretched  kings  and  deluded  people. 

The  pontiff  summons  to  V7ar.  He  is  obeyed. 
He  summons  to  peace ;  why  is  he  not  obeyed  as 
readily?  If  men,  as  they  profess,  really  do  prefer 
peace,  and  are  reluctantly  dragged  to  war,  why 
do  they  obey  pope  Julius  with  so  much  alacrity 
when  he  calls  them  to  war,  and  yield  no  obedience 
to  pope  Leo,  when  he  invites  them  to  concord  and 
peace?  If  the  authority  of  the  Roman  pontiff  be 
really  divine,  surely  it  ought  then  to  avail  most 
when  it  prescribes  that  conduct  which  Christ 
taught  as  the  only  proper  conduct.  It  is  fair  to 
conclude,  that  those  whom  Julius  has  authority 
enough  to  excite  to  a  most  destructive  war,  and 
whom  Leo,  a  really  religious  pontiff,^  cannot  al- 
lure, by  the  most  cogent  arguments,  to  christian 
love  and  charity,  are  serving  (I  express  myself 
tenderly  of  them)  under  the  cloke  of  serving  the 
church,  nothing  else  but  their  own  vile  and  selfish 
passions. 

If  you  are  in  your  heart  weary  of  war,  I  will 
tell  you  how  you  may  avoid  it,  and  preserve  a 
cordial  and  general  amity. 

Firm  and  permanent  peace  is  not  to  be  secured 
by  marrying  one  royal  family  to  another,  nor  by 
treaties  and  alliances  made  between  such  deceitful 
and  imperfect  creatures  as  men;  for,  from  these 

1  Erasmus  was  mistaken  in  Leo's  character. 


46  THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE 

very  family  connections,  treaties,  and  alliances, 
we  see  wars  chiefly  originate.  No;  the  fountains 
from  which  the  streams  of  this  evil  flow,  must  be 
cleansed.  It  is  from  the  corrupt  passions  of  the 
human  heart  that  the  tumults  of  war  arise.  While 
each  king  obeys  the  impulse  of  his  passions,  the 
commonwealth,  the  community,  suffers;  and  at 
the  same  time,  the  poor  slave  to  his  passions  is 
frustrated  in  his  private  and  selfish  purposes. 

Let  kings  then  grow  wise;  wise  for  the  people, 
not  for  themselves  only;  and  let  them  be  truly 
wise,  in  the  proper  sense  of  the  word,  not  merely 
cunning,  but  really  wise;  so  as  to  place  their 
majesty,  their  felicity,  their  wealth,  and  their 
splendor  in  such  things,  and  such  only,  as  render 
them  personally  great,  personally  superior  to  those 
whom  the  fortune  of  birth  has  ranked,  in  a  civil 
sense,  below  them.  Let  them  acquire  those  ami- 
able dispositions  towards  the  commonwealth,  the 
great  body  of  the  people,  which  a  father  feels 
for  his  family.  Let  a  king  think  himself  great 
in  proportion  as  his  people  are  good;  let  him 
estimate  his  own  happiness  by  the  happiness  of 
those  whom  he  governs;  let  him  deem  himself 
glorious  in  proportion  as  his  subjects  are  free; 
rich,  if  the  public  are  rich;  and  flourishing,  if  he 
can  but  keep  the  community  flourishing,  in  con- 
sequence of  uninterrupted  peace. 

Such  should  be  our  king,  if  we  wish  to  establish 
a  firm  and  lasting  peace;  and  let  the  noblemen 
and  magistrates  imitate  the  king,  rendered  by 
these  means  worthy  of  imitation.  Let  the  public 
good   be   the   rule   of   their   conduct;   and   so  will 


THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE  47 

they  ultimately  promote  most  effectually  even  their 
own  private  advantage. 

Now,  will  a  king  of  such  a  disposition  as  I  have 
described,  be  easily  prevailed  upon  to  extort  money 
from  his  own  people  to  put  it  into  the  pockets 
of  foreign  mercenaries  and  alien  subsidiaries? 
Will  he  reduce  his  own  people  to  distress,  perhaps 
even  for  bread,  in  order  to  fill  the  coffers  of  mili- 
tary despots  and  commanders?  Will  he  be  lavish 
of  blood,  as  well  as  treasure,  (neither  of  them  his 
own)  and  expose  the  lives,  as  well  as  expend  the 
property,  of  his  people?  No.  I  think  he  will 
know  better. 

Let  him  exercise  his  power  as  far  as  he  pleases, 
within  those  bounds  which  he  will  always  see 
clearly,  when  he  remembers  that  he  is  a  man  gov- 
erning men,  a  free  man  at  the  head  of  free  men, 
a  christian  presiding  over  a  nation  of  christians. 
In  return  for  his  good  behaviour,  let  the  people 
pay  him  just  so  much  reverence,  and  yield  him 
just  so  many  privileges  and  prerogatives  as  for 
the  public  good,  and  no  more.  A  good  king  will 
require  no  more ;  and  as  to  the  unreasonable  de- 
sires of  a  bad  king,  the  people  should  unite  to 
check  and  repel  them.  Let  there  be  on  both  sides 
a  due  regard  paid  to  private  happiness.  Let  the 
greatest  share  of  honour  be  ever  paid,  not  to  war- 
like kings,  (the  world  has  sorely  suffered  for  its 
folly  in  giving  them  glory)  but  to  kings  who  en- 
tirely reject  the  war  system,  and  by  their  under- 
standing and  counsels,  not  by  force  and  arms, 
restore  to  bleeding  human  nature  the  blessings 
of  concord  and  repose.  Let  him  be  called  a  great 
king,  not  who  is  continually  augmenting  his  army, 


48  THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE 

and  providing  military  stores  and  engines  of  de- 
struction, but  who  exerts  every  effort  of  his  mind, 
and  uses  every  advantage  of  his  situation,  to  ren- 
der armies,  stores,  and  engines  of  destruction  to- 
tally unnecessary.  Truly  glorious  as  is  such  an 
attempt;  not  one,  in  the  long  catalogue  of  kings 
and  princes  that  has  "strutted  and  fretted  his  hour 
upon  the  stage,"  every  conceived  the  thought  in 
his  heart,  except  the  emperor  Dioclesian. 

But  if,  after  all,  it  is  not  possible  that  a  war 
should  be  avoided,  let  it  be  so  conducted,  that  the 
severest  of  its  calamities  may  fall  upon  the  heads 
of  those  who  gave  the  occasion.  Yet  kings,  in- 
stead of  suffering  at  all  by  it,  wage  war  in  perfect 
consistency  with  their  personal  safety.  The  great 
men  grow  rich  upon  it.  The  largest  part  of  the 
evil  falls  upon  landholders,  husbandmen,  trades- 
men, manufacturers,  whom,  perhaps  the  war  does 
not  in  the  least  concern,  and  who  never  furnished 
the  slightest  cause  for  a  national  rupture. 

In  what  consists  the  wisdom  of  a  king,  if  he  does 
not  take  these  things  into  consideration?  In  what 
consists  the  gracious  goodness,  the  tender  feeling 
of  a  king,  if  he  thinks  such  things  beneath  his 
notice? 

Some  method  should  be  discovered  to  keep  kings 
from  shifting  their  thrones  and  dominions,  and 
going  from  one  dynasty  to  another,  because  inno- 
vations in  matters  of  this  kind  always  create  dis- 
turbance, and  disturbance  produces  war.  This  may 
easily  be  managed,  if  the  children  of  kings  are 
provided  for,  or  established  somewhere  within 
their  father's  own  dominions;  or  if  it  should  ap- 
pear expedient  to  connect  them  with  neighbour- 


THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE  49 

ing  crowned  heads,  let  all  hope  of  succession  be 
entirely  cut  off  at  the  time  when  a  marriage,  or 
any  other  mode  of  connection  with  foreign  courts, 
is  negotiated.  Nor  let  any  king  be  allowed  to  sell 
or  alienate  in  any  manner  the  least  portion  of  his 
dominions,  as  if  free  states  were  his  private  prop- 
erty. I  say  free  states,  for  all  states  are  free  that 
have  kings,  properly  so  called,  to  govern  them. 
States  that  are  not  free,  are  not  under  kings,  what- 
ever they  may  be  called,  but  despots.  By  the  inter- 
marriage of  kings  and  their  progeny,  and  the 
rights  of  succession  which  thence  arise,  a  man 
born  in  the  bogs  of  Ireland  may  come  to  reign  in 
the  East  Indies;  and  another  who  was  a  king  in 
Syria,  may  all  of  a  sudden  start  up  an  Italian 
prince.  Thus  it  may  happen  that  neither  country 
shall  have  a  king,  while  he  abandons  his  former 
dominions,  and  is  not  acknowledged  by  his  newly 
acquired  ones;  being  a  perfect  stranger,  born  in 
another  world,  for  any  thing  they  know  to  the 
contrary.  And  in  the  mean  time,  while  he  is  re- 
ducing, subduing  and  exhausting  part  of  his  do- 
minions, he  is  impoverishing  and  exhausting  the 
other.  He  sometimes  loses  both,  while  he  is  en- 
deavouring to  grasp  both,  and  most  likely  is  not 
fit  to  govern  either.  Let  kings  once  settle  among 
themselves,  how  much  and  how  far  each  ought  to 
govern,  and  then  let  no  marriage  connection  among 
them  either  extend  or  contract ;  let  no  treaty  alter 
the  limits  once  ascertained.  Thus  every  one  will 
endeavour  to  improve  his  allotted  portion  to  the 
utmost  of  his  power.  All  his  efforts  will  be  con- 
centrated on  one  country,  and  he  will  endeavour 
to  transmit  it  to  his  posterity  in  a  rich  and  flour- 


50  THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE 

ishing  condition.  The  result  will  be,  that  when 
every  one  minds  his  own,  all  will  thrive.  There- 
fore let  kings  be  attached  to  each  other,  not  by 
political  intermarriages,  artificial  and  factitious 
ties,  but  by  pure  and  sincere  friendship;  and  above 
all,  by  a  zeal  similar  and  common  to  the  whole 
tribe  to  promote  the  solid,  substantial  happiness 
of  human  nature.  And  let  the  king's  successor  be 
either  he  who  is  most  nearly  related  to  him,  or  he 
who  shall  be  judged  fittest  for  the  momentous 
office,  by  the  suffrages  of  the  people.  Let  the 
other  great  men  rest  satisfied  with  being  num- 
bered among  the  honourable  nobility.  It  is  the 
duty  of  a  king  to  enter  into  no  party  cabals,  to 
know  nothing  of  private  passions  or  partialities, 
but  to  esteem  all  men  and  measures  solely  as  they 
have  a  reference  and  tendency  to  the  good  of  the 
public.  Moreover,  let  the  king  avoid  travelling 
into  foreign  countries,  let  him  never  wish  to  pass 
the  boundaries  of  his  own  dominions;  but  let  him 
shew  that  he  approves  a  proverbial  saying,  sanc- 
tioned by  the  wisdom  of  ages,  irons  occipitio  prior 
est'^  by  which  was  intimated,  that  nothing  goes 

^  Erasmus,  whose  good  sense  led  him  to  delight  in  pro- 
verbs, thus  explains  his  proverb  in  his  Adagio.  "Priscis 
agricolis  celebratum  adagium;  quo  significavit  antiquitas 
rectius  geri  negotium,  ubi  praesens  hae  testes  adest  is 
cujus  agitur  negotium."  The  English  proverb  corre- 
sponding with  it  is  rather  too  familiar  for  the  occasion. 
The  Latin  may  be  thus  translated:  "The  foreside  sees 
more  than  the  backside."  Cato  and  Pliny  use  the  pro- 
verb. 

"Id  nulli  magis  obferandum  quam  principi;  si  modo 
principis  animum  gerat,  non  praedonis,  hoc  est  si  publi- 
cum negotium  cordi  habet.  At  hodie  fere  episcopi  et 
reges  omnia  alienis  manibus,  alienis  auribus  atque  oculis 
agunt,  neque  quicquam  minus  ad  se  pertinere  putant  quam 
rempublicam,  aut  privatis  suisque  distenti,  aut  volupta- 


THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE  51 

on  well  when  conducted  by  secondaries  and  mer- 
cenaries only,  and  in  the  absence  of  the  principal. 
Let  him  be  persuaded  that  the  best  method  of 
enriching  and  improving  his  realm,  is  not  by  tak- 
ing from  the  territory  of  others,  but  by  meliorat- 
ing the  condition  of  his  own.  When  the  expe- 
diency of  war  is  discussed,  let  him  not  listen  to 
the  counsels  of  young  ministers,  who  are  pleased 
with  the  false  glory  of  war,  without  considering 
its  calamities,  of  which,  from  their  age,  it  is  im- 
possible that  they  should  have  had  personal  ex- 
perience. Neither  let  him  consult  those  who  have 
an  interest  in  disturbing  the  public  tranquillity  and 
who  are  fed  and  fattened  by  the  sufferings  of  the 
people.  Let  him  take  the  advice  of  old  men,  whose 
integrity  has  been  long  tried,  and  who  have  shewn 
that  they  have  an  unfeigned  attachment  to  their 
country.  Nor  let  him,  to  gratify  the  passions  or 
sinister  views  of  one  or  two  violent  or  artful  men, 
rashly  enter  on  a  war;  for  war,  once  engaged  in, 
cannot  be  put  an  end  to  at  discretion.  A  measure 
the  most  dangerous  to  the  existence  of  a  state  as 
a  war  must  be,  should  not  be  entered  into  by  a 
king,  by  a  minister,  by  a  junto  of  ambitious  ava- 
ricious, or  revengeful  men,  but  by  the  full  and 
unanimous  consent  of  the  whole  people. 

tibus  occupati."  This  proverb  deserves  to  be  regarded 
by  nobody  more  than  a  king;  i£  he  has  the  dispositions 
of  a  king,  arid  not  of  a  public  plunderer,  that  is,  if  he  has 
the  public  interest  at  heart.  But  now-a-days,  bishops 
and  kings  transact  all  the  proper  business  of  their  func- 
tions by  other  people's  hands,  ears,  and  eyes;  nor  do  they 
think  themselves  concerned  in  any  thing  less,  than  in  the 
care  of  the  public  good,  being  entirely  occupied  with 
pursuing  their  own  private  and  selfish  ends,  or  engaged 
in  the  pleasures  of  fashionable  life  and  company. — Eras- 
mus. 


52  THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE 

The  causes  of  war  are  to  be  cut  up,  root  and 
branch,  on  their  first  and  slightest  appearance. 
Many  real  injuries  and  insults  must  be  connived 
at.  Men  must  not  be  too  zealous  about  a  phantom 
called  national  glory;  often  inconsistent  with  in- 
dividual happiness.  Gentle  behaviour  on  one  side, 
will  tend  to  secure  it  on  the  other;  but  the  inso- 
lence of  a  haughty  minister  may  give  unpardon- 
able offence,  and  be  dearly  paid  for  by  the  suffer- 
ings of  the  nation  over  which  he  domineers. 

There  are  occasions  v>?hen,  if  peace  can  be  had 
in  no  other  way,  it  must  be  purchased.  It  can 
scarcely  be  purchased  too  dearly,  if  you  take  into 
the  account  how  much  treasure  you  must  inevi- 
tably expend  in  war;  and  what  is  of  infinitely 
greater  consequence  than  treasure,  how  many  of 
the  people's  lives  you  save  by  peace.  Though  the 
cost  be  great,  yet  war  would  certainly  cost  you 
more ;  besides,  (what  is  above  all  price)  the  blood 
of  men,  the  blood  of  your  own  fellow-citizens  and 
subjects,  whose  lives  you  are  bound,  by  every  tie 
of  duty,  to  preserve,  instead  of  lavishing  away  in 
prosecuting  schemes  of  false  policy,  and  cruel, 
selfish,  villainous  ambition.  Only  form  a  fair 
estimate  of  the  quantity  of  mischief  and  misery 
of  every  kind  and  degree  which  you  escape,  and 
the  sum  of  happiness  you  preserve  in  all  the  walks 
of  private  life,  among  all  the  tender  relations  of 
parents,  husbands,  children,  among  those  whose 
poverty  alone  makes  them  soldiers,  the  wretched 
instruments  of  involuntary  bloodshed;  form  but 
this  estimate,  and  you  will  never  repent  the  high- 
est price  you  can  pay  for  peace. 

While  the  king  does  his  duty  as  the  guardian 


THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE  53 

and  preserver,  instead  of  the  destroyer,  o£  the 
people  committed  to  his  charge,  let  the  right  rev- 
verend  the  bishops  do  their  duty  likewise.  Let 
the  priests  be  priests  indeed;  preachers  o£  peace 
and  goodwill,  and  not  the  instigators  of  war,  for 
the  sake  of  pleasing  a  corrupt  minister,  in  whose 
hands  are  livings,  stalls,  and  mitres;  let  the  whole 
body  of  the  clergy  remember  the  truly  evangelical 
duties  of  their  profession,  and  let  the  grave  pro- 
fessors of  theology  in  our  universities,  or  wher- 
ever else  they  teach  divinity,  remember  to  teach 
nothing  as  men-pleasers  unworthy  of  Christ.  Let 
all  the  clergy,  however  they  may  differ  in  rank, 
order,  sect,  or  persuasion,  unite  to  cry  down  war, 
and  discountenance  it  through  the  nation,  by  zeal- 
ously and  faithfully  arraigning  it  from  the  pulpit. 
In  the  public  functions  of  their  several  churches, 
in  their  private  conversation  and  intercourse  with 
the  laity,  let  them  be  constantly  employed  in  the 
christian,  benevolent,  humane  work  of  preaching, 
recommending,  and  inculcating,  peace.  If,  after 
all  their  efforts,  the  clergy  cannot  prevent  the 
breaking  out  of  war,  let  them  never  give  it  the 
slightest  approbation,  directly  or  indirectly,  let 
them  never  give  countenance  to  it  by  their  pres- 
ence at  its  silly  parade  or  bloody  proceedings,  let 
them  never  pay  the  smallest  respect  to  any  great 
patron  or  prim.e  minister,  or  courtier,  who  is  the 
author  or  adviser  of  a  state  of  affairs  so  contrary 
to  their  holy  profession,  and  to  every  duty  and 
principle  of  the  christian  religion,  as  is  a  state 
of  war. 
/Let  the  clergy  agree  to  refuse  burial  in  conse- 


54  THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE 

crated  ground  to  all  who  are  slain  in  battle.^  1  If 
there  be  any  good  men  among  the  slain,  and  cer- 
tainly there  are  very  few,  they  will  not  lose  the 
reward  of  christians  in  heaven,  because  they  had 
not  what  is  called  christian  burial.  But  the  worth- 
less, of  whom  the  majority  of  warriors  consists, 
will  have  one  cause  of  that  silly  vanity  and  self- 
liking  which  attends  and  recommends  their  pro- 
fession more  than  any  thing  else,  entirely  removed, 
when  sepulchral  honours  are  denied,  after  all  the 
glory  of  being  knocked  on  the  head  in  battle,  in 
the  noble  endeavour  to  kill  a  fellow-creature. 

I  am  speaking  all  along  of  those  wars  which 
christians  wage  with  christians,  on  trifling  and 
unjustifiable  occasions.  I  think  very  differently! 
of  wars,  bona  Bde,  just  and  necessary,  such  as  are, 
in  a  strict  sense  of  those  words,  purely  defensive, 
such  as  with  an  honest  and  affectionate  zeal  for 
the  country,  repel  the  violence  of  invaders,  and,  at 
the  hazard  of  life,  preserve  the  public  tranquillity. 

But  in  the  present  state  of  things,  the  clergy 
(for  of  their  conduct  I  proceed  to  speak)  so  far 
from  acting  as  servants  of  Christ,  in  the  manner 
I  have  recommended,  do  not  hesitate  to  hang  up 
flags,  standards,  banners,  and  other  trophies  of 
war,  brought  from  the  field  of  carnage,  as  orna- 
ments of  churches  and  great  cathedrals.  These 
trophies  shall  be  all  stained  and  smeared  with  the 
blood  of  men,  for  whom  Christ  shed  his  most 
precious  blood,  and  shall  be  hung  in  the  aisles  of 

^  The  words  of  Erasmus  are  "Satis  sit  in  bello  caesis, 
in  profano  sepulchrum  dare."  Here  he  goes  too  far;  but 
it  is  in  his  benevolent  design  to  prevent  any  being  slain 
in  battle  in  future. 


THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE  55 

the  churches,  among  the  tombs  and  images  of 
apostles  and  martyrs,  as  if  in  future  it  were  to 
be  reckoned  a  mark  of  sanctity  not  to  suffer  mar- 
tyrdom, but  to  inflict  it;  not  to  lay  down  one's 
life  for  the  truth,  but  to  take  away  the  life  of 
others  for  worldly  purposes  of  vanity  and  avarice. 
It  would  be  quite  sufficient  if  the  bloody  rags 
were  hung  up  in  some  corner  of  the  Exchange  or 
kept,  as  curiosities  in  a  chest  or  closet,  out  of 
sight;  disgraceful  monuments  they  are  of  human 
depravity.  The  church,  which  ought  to  be  kept 
perfectly  pure,  and  emblematic  of  the  purest  of 
religions,  should  not  be  defiled  with  any  thing 
stained  with  the  blood  of  man,  shed  by  the  hand 
of  man  alienated,  as  is  clear  by  the  very  act,  both 
from  Christ  and  from  nature. 

But  you  argue  in  defence  of  this  indecent  prac- 
tice of  hanging  up  flags  or  colours,  as  they  are 
called,  in  churches,  that  the  ancients  used  to  de- 
posit the  monuments  of  their  victories  in  the  tem- 
ples of  their  gods.  It  is  true,  but  what  were  their 
gods  but  demons,  delighting  in  blood  and  impur- 
ity? not  the  God,  who  is  of  purer  eyes  than  to 
behold  iniquity.  Never  let  priests,  dedicated  tof 
a  God  like  this,  have  any  thing  to  do  with  war, 
unless  it  is  to  put  an  end  to  it,  and  promote  love 
and  reconciliation.  If  the  clergy  were  but  unani- 
mous in  such  sentiments,  if  they  would  inculcate 
them  every  where,  there  is  no  doubt,  notwith- 
standing the  great  power  of  the  secular  arm,  that 
their  authority,  personal  and  professional,  would 
have  a  preponderance,  against  the  influence  of 
courts  and  ministers  of  state,  and  thus  prevent 
war,  the  calamity  of  human  nature. 


56  THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE 

But  if  there  is  a  fatal  propensity  in  the  human 
heart  to  war,  if  the  dreadful  disease  is  interwoven 
with  the  constitution  of  man,  so  that  it  cannot 
abstain  from  war,  why  is  not  vent  given  to  the 
virulence  in  exertions  against  the  common  enemy 
of  Christianity,  pie  unbelieving  Turk?     Yet — even 
here   let   me   p'^rree — is-'^otthe    Turk   a   man — a 
brother?     Then  it  were  far  better  to  allure  him 
by   gentle,   kind,   and   friendly   treatment,   by   ex- 
hibiting the  beauty  of  our  christian  religion   in 
J    the  innocence  of  our  lives,  than  by  attacking  him 
y  \ -^  Ywith  the  drawn  sword,  as  if  he  were  a  savage  brute, 
_\  ^  V  ^v^  without  a  heart  to  feel,  or  a  reasoning  faculty  to 
""  \   r  C""     ^^  persuaded.     Nevertheless,  if  we  must  of  neces- 
■"  y'*'  -^       sity  go  to  war,  as  I  said  before,  it  is  certainly  a 
■^         less  evil  to  contend  with  an  infidel,  than  that  chris- 
\\i  ,s,   tians   should   mutually   harass   and   destroy   their 
^^  ^     own  fraternity,  flf  charity  will  not  cement  their 
v^  hearts,   certainly  one  common   enemy  may  unite 
■v>    their  hands,  and  though  this  may  not  be  a  cordial 
unity,  yet  it  will  be  better  than  a  real  rupture. 

Upon  the  whole  it  must  be  said,  that  the  first 
and  most  important  step  towards  peace,  is  sin- 
cerely to  desire  it.  They  who  once  love  peace  in 
their  hearts,  will  eagerly  seize  every  opportunity 
of  establishing  or  recovering  it.  All  obstacles  to 
it  they  will  despise  or  remove,  all  hardships  and 
difficulties  they  will  bear  with  patience,  so  long 
as  they  keep  this  one  great  blessing  (including 
as  it  does  so  many  others)  whole  and  entire.  On 
the  contrary,  men,  in  our  times,  go  out  of  their 
way  to  seek  occasions  of  war;  and  whatever  makes 
for  peace,  they  run  down  in  their  sophistical 
speeches,  or  even  basely  conceal  from  the  public; 


THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE  57 

but  whatever  tends  to  promote  their  favourite  war 
system,  they  industriously  exaggerate  and  inflame, 
not  scrupling  to  propagate  lies  of  the  most  mis- 
chievous kind,  false  or  garbled  intelligence,  and 
the  grossest  misrepresentation  of  the  enemy.  I 
am  ashamed  to  relate  what  real  and  dreadful  trag- 
edies in  real  life,  they  found  on  these  vile  des- 
picable trifles,  from  how  small  an  ember  they 
blow  up  a  flame  and  set  the  world  on  fire.  Then 
they  summon  before  them  the  whole  catalogue  of 
supposed  injuries  received,  and  each  party  views 
its  own  grievance  with  a  glass  that  magnifies  be- 
yond all  bounds;  but  as  for  benefits  received,  they 
all  fall  into  the  profoundest  oblivion  as  soon  as 
received;  so  that  upon  the  whole,  an  impartial 
observer  would  swear  that  great  men  love  war 
for  its  own  sake,  with  their  hearts  and  souls,  pro- 
vided their  own  persons  are  safe. 

After  all  the  pretences  thrown  out,  and  the  arti- 
fices used,  to  irritate  the  vulgar,  there  often  lurks 
(as  the  true  cause  of  wars)  in  the  bosom  of  kings, 
some  private,  mean,  and  selfish  motive,  which  is 
to  force  their  subjects  to  take  up  weapons  to  kill 
one  another,  at  the  word  of  command,  and  as  they 
wish  to  evince  their  loyalty.  But,  instead  of  a 
private  and  selfish  object,  there  ought  to  be  an  ob- 
ject, in  which  not  only  the  public,  that  is,  not  only 
one  single  community,  but  in  which  man,  human 
nature,  is  deeply  interested  to  justify  the  volun- 
tary commencement  of  a  war. 

But  when  kings  can  find  no  cause  of  this  kind, 
as  indeed  they  seldom  can,  then  they  set  their 
v/its  to  work  to  invent  some  fictitious  but  plausible 
occasion  for  a  rupture.     They  will  make  use  of 


58  THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE 

the  names  of  foreign  countries,  artfully  rendered 
odious  to  the  people,  in  order  to  feed  the  popular 
odium,  till  it  becomes  ripe  for  war,  and  thirsts 
for  the  blood  of  the  outlandish  nation,  whose  very 
name  is  rendered  a  cause  of  hostility.  This  weak- 
ness and  folly  of  the  very  lowest  classes  of  the 
people,  the  grandees  increase  by  artful  insinua- 
tions, watchwords,  and  nicknames,  cunningly 
thrown  out  in  debates,  pamphlets,  and  journals. 
Certain  of  the  clergy,  whose  interest  it  is  to  co- 
operate with  the  grandees  in  any  unchristian  work, 
join,  with  great  effect,  aided  by  religion,  in  a  pious 
imposition  on  the  poor.  Thus,  for  instance,  an 
Englishman  they  say,  is  the  natural  enemy  of  a 
Frenchman,  because  he  is  a  Frenchman.  A  man 
born  on  this  side  the  river  Tweed  must  hate  a 
Scotchman,  because  he  is  a  Scotchman.  A  Ger- 
man naturally  disagrees  with  a  Frank,  a  Spaniard 
with  both.  O  villainous  depravity!  The  name  of 
a  place  or  region,  in  itself  a  circumstance  of  in- 
difference, shall  be  enough  to  dissever  your  hearts 
more  widely  than  the  distance  of  place,  your  per- 
sons !  A  name  is  nothing,  but  there  are  many  cir- 
cumstances, very  important  realities,  which  ought 
to  endear  and  unite  men  of  different  nations.  As  an 
Englishman,  you  bear  ill-will  to  a  Frenchman.  Why 
not  rather,  as  a  man  to  a  man,  do  you  not  bear  him 
good-will?  Why  not  as  a  christian  to  a  christian? 
How  happens  it,  that  such  a  frivolous  thing  as  a 
name  avails  more  with  you  than  the  tender  ties  of 
nature,  the  strong  bonds  of  Christianity?  Place, 
local  distance,  separates  the  persons  of  men,  but 
not  their  minds.  Hearts  can  gravitate  to  each 
other    throug?!    intervening    seas   and   mountains. 


THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE  59 

The  river  Rhine  once  separated  the  Frenchman 
from  the  German,  but  it  was  beyond  its  power  to 
separate  the  christian  from  the  christian.  The 
Pyrenean  mountains  divide  the  Spaniards  from 
the  French,  but  they  break  not  that  invisible  bond 
which  holds  them  together  in  defiance  of  all  par- 
tition, the  communion  of  the  church.  A  little 
gut  of  a  sea  divides  the  English  from  the  French; 
but  if  the  whole  Atlantic  ocean  rolled  between 
them,  it  could  not  disjoin  them  as  men  united  by 
nature ;  and,  while  they  mutually  retain  the  chris- 
tian religion,  still  more  indissolubly  cemented  by 
grace. 

The  Apostle  Paul  expresses  his  indignation, 
that  christians,  separating  into  sects,  should  say, 
"I  am  of  Apollos;  I  am  of  Cephas;  I  am  of  Paul:" 
nor  would  he  suffer  the  unnatural  distinction  of 
a  name  to  parcel  out  Christ,  who  is  one  with  all 
his  members,  and  who  has  formed  all  into  one  in- 
violable whole.  And  shall  we  think  the  common 
name  of  a  native  country  cause  sufficient  why  one 
race  of  men  should  hunt  down  another  race  of 
m.en,  even  to  extermination ;  should  engage  them 
with  each  other  in  a  bellum  ad  internecionem ;  a 
war,  to  cut  off,  on  one  side  or  the  other,  man, 
woman  and  child,  and  leave  not  a  tongue  to  tell 
the  tale? 

The  hostile  distinction  of  different  nations  as 
natural  enemies,  because  they  are  separated  by 
place,  and  diversified  by  name,  is  not  enough  to 
satisfy  some  among  the  blood-thirsty  wretches 
who  delight  in  war.  Such  is  the  depravity  of  their 
minds,  that  they  seek  occasions  of  difference  where 
none  is  afforded  either  by  nature  or  institution. 


60  THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE 

They  would  divide  France  against  itself,  in  verbal 
and  nominal  distinctions  of  the  inhabitants;  a 
country  which  is  not  divided  by  seas,  or  by  moun- 
tains, and  is  indeed  one  and  indivisible,  however 
artful  men  may  endeavour  to  cause  divisions  in 
it  by  distinctions  merely  nominal.  Thus  some  of 
the  French  they  will  denominate  Germans,  lest 
the  circum.stance  of  identity  of  name  should  pro- 
duce that  unanimity  which  they  diabolically  wish 
to  interrupt. 

Now,  if,  in  courts  of  judicature,  the  judge  will 
not  admit  of  suits  which  are  frivolous  and  vexa- 
tious; if  he  will  not  admit  of  all  sorts  of  evidence, 
especially  that  which  arises  from  a  personal  pique 
and  resentment,  how  happens  it  that,  in  a  business 
of  far  more  consequence  to  human  nature  even 
than  courts  of  judicature,  in  an  affair  the  most 
odious  and  abominable,  such  as  the  promoting 
discord  among  human  creatures  and  whole  neigh- 
bouring nations,  causes  the  most  frivolous  and 
vexatious  are  freely  admitted  as  competent  and 
valid.  Let  the  lovers  of  discord,  and  the  pro- 
moters of  bloodshed  between  nations,  divided  only 
by  a  name  and  a  channel,  rather  reflect,  that  this 
world,  the  whole  of  the  planet  called  earth,  is  the 
common  country  of  all  who  live  and  breathe  upon 
it,  if  the  title  of  one's  country  is  allowed  to  be  a 
sufficient  reason  for  unity  among  fellow-country- 
men; and  let  them  also  remember,  that  all  men, 
however  distinguished  by  political  or  accidental 
causes,  are  sprung  from  the  same  parents,  if  con- 
sanguinity and  affinity  are  allowed  to  be  available 
to  concord  and  peace.  If  the  church  also  is  a  sub- 
division of  this  one  great  universal  family,  a  fam- 


THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE  61 

ily  of  itself  consisting  of  all  who  belong  to  that 
church,  and  if  the  being  of  the  same  family  neces- 
sarily connects  all  the  members  in  a  common  in- 
terest and  a  common  regard  for  each  other,  then 
the  opposers  must  be  ingenious  in  their  malice,  if 
they  can  deny,  that  all  who  are  of  the  same  church, 
the  grand  catholic  church  of  all  Christendom,  must 
also  have  a  common  interest,  a  common  regard 
for  each  other,  and  therefore  be  united  in  love. 

In  private  life,  you  bear  with  some  things  in  a 
brother-in-law  which  you  bear  with  only  because 
he  is  a  brother-in-law;  and  will  you  bear  with 
nothing  in  him  who  by  the  tie  of  the  same  religion 
is  also  a  brother?  You  pardon  many  little  offences 
on  account  of  nearness  of  kindred,  and  will  you 
pardon  nothing  on  account  of  an  affinity  founded 
in  religion?  Yet,  there  is  no  doubt  but  that  the 
closest  possible  tie  among  all  the  christian  brother- 
hood, is  confraternity  in  Christ. 

Why  are  you  always  fixing  your  attention  upon 
the  sore  place,  where  the  insult  of  injury  received 
from  a  fellow-creature  festers  and  rankles?  If 
you  seek  peace  and  ensue  it,  as  you  ought  to  do, 
you  will  rather  say  to  yourself,  "he  hurt  me  in 
this  instance,  it  is  true;  but  in  other  instances  he 
has  often  served  or  gratified  me,  and  in  this  one 
he  was  perhaps  incited  to  momentary  wrong  by 
passion,  mistake,  or  by  another's  impulse."  As,  in 
the  poet  Homer,  the  persons  who  seek  to  effect 
a  reconciliation  between  Agamemnon  and  Achil- 
les, throw  all  the  blame  of  their  quarrel  on  the 
Goddess  Ate;  so  in  real  life,  offences  that  cannot 
be  excused  consistently  with  strict  veracity, 
should,  good-naturedly,  be  imputed  to  ill-fortune, 


62  THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE 

or,  if  you  please,  to  a  man's  evil-genius;  that  the 
resentment  may  be  transferred  from  men  to  those 
imaginary  beings,  who  can  bear  the  load,  however 
great,  without  the  slightest  inconvenience. 

Why  should  men  shew  more  sagacity  in  creat- 
ing misery,  than  in  securing  and  increasing  the 
comforts  of  life?  Why  should  they  be  more  quick- 
sighted  in  finding  evil  than  good?  All  men  of 
sense  weigh,  consider,  and  use  great  circumspec- 
tion, before  they  enter  upon  any  private  business 
of  momentous  consequence.  And  yet  they  throw 
themselves  headlong  into  war,  with  their  eyes 
shut;  notwithstanding  war  is  that  kind  of  evil 
which,  when  once  admitted,  cannot  be  excluded 
again  at  will ;  but  usually,  from  a  little  one,  be- 
comes a  very  great  one;  from  a  single  one,  multi- 
plies into  a  complication;  from  an  unbloody  con- 
test, changes  to  carnage,  and  at  last  rises  to  a 
storm,  which  does  not  overwhelm  merely  one  or 
two,  and  those  the  chief  instigators  to  the  mis- 
chief, but  all  the  unoffending  people  also;  con- 
founding the  innocent  with  the  guilty. 

If  the  poor  people,  of  the  very  lowest  order,  are 
too  thoughtless  to  consider  these  things,  it  can  be 
no  excuse  for  the  king  and  the  nobles,  whose  in- 
dispensable duty  it  is  to  consider  them  well;  and 
it  is  the  particular  business  of  the  clergy  to  en- 
force these  pacific  opinions  with  every  argument 
which  ingenuity  and  learning  can  derive  from 
reason  and  religion;  to  enforce  them,  I  say,  and 
inculcate  them  on  the  minds  of  both  the  great, 
vulgar,  and  the  small;  "instantly,  in  season,  and 
out  of  season";  whether  they  "will  bear,  or 
whether  they  will   forbear."     Something  will   at 


THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE  63 

last  stick,  if  it  is  incessantly  applied;  and,  there- 
fore, let  the  pulpits  and  conversation  of  the  clergy 
teach  the  bland  doctrines  of  peace  and  love  every- 
where and  always. 

Mortal  man!  (for  so  I  address  thee,  even  on  a 
throne)  dost  thou  exult  at  hearing  the  rumour  of 
an  ensuing  war?  Check  thy  joy  for  a  moment, 
and  examine,  accurately,  the  nature  and  conse- 
quences of  peace,  and  the  nature  and  consequences 
of  v/ar;  what  blessings  follow  in  the  train  of  peace, 
and  what  curses  march  in  the  rear  of  war;  and 
then  form  a  true  and  solid  judgment,  whether  it 
can  ever  be  expedient  to  exchange  peace  for  war? 
If  it  is  a  goodly  and  beautiful  sight  to  behold  a 
country  flourishing  in  the  highest  prosperity;  its 
cities  well  built,  its  lands  well  cultivated,  the  best 
of  laws  well  executed;  arts,  sciences,  and  learning, 
those  honourable  employments  of  the  human  mind, 
encouraged;  men's  morals  virtuous  and  honest; 
then  may  it  please  your  Majesty  to  lay  your  hand 
on  your  heart,  and  let  your  conscience  whisper 
to  you,  "All  this  happiness  I  must  disturb  or 
destroy,  if  I  engage  in  this  meditated  war."  On 
the  other  hand,  if  you  ever  beheld  the  ruin  of 
cities,  villages  burnt,  churches  battered  down, 
fields  laid  desolate,  and,  if  the  sight  could  wring 
a  tear  of  pity  from  thine  eye,  then,  Sire,  remember 
that  these  are  the  blasted  fruits  of  accursed  war! 
If  you  think  it  a  great  inconvenience  to  be  obliged 
to  admit  an  inundation  of  hired  soldiers  into  your 
realms,  to  feed  and  clothe  them  at  the  expence  of 
your  subjects,  to  be  very  submissive  to  them, 
meanly  to  court  their  favour,  in  order  to  keep 
them  in  good  humour,  well  affected,  and  loyal; 


64  THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE 

and,  after  all,  to  trust  (which  is  unavoidable  in 
these  circumstances)  your  own  person  and  your 
safety  to  the  discretion  of  such  a  rabble;  recollect, 
that  such  is  the  condition  of  a  state  of  warfare, 
and  that  these  evils,  great  as  they  are,  become 
necessary,  when  you  have  made  yourself  their 
slave,  in  order  to  enslave  or  destroy  an  imaginary 
enemy. 

If  you  detest  robbery  and  pillage,  remember 
these  are  among  the  duties  of  war;  and  that,  to 
learn  how  to  commit  them  adroitly,  is  a  part  of 
military  discipline.  Do  you  shudder  at  the  idea 
of  murder?  You  cannot  require  to  be  told,  that  to 
comm_it  it  with  dispatch,  and  by  wholesale,  consti- 
tutes the  celebrated  art  of  war.  If  murder  were 
not  learned  by  this  art,  how  could  a  man,  who 
would  shudder  to  kill  one  individual,  even  when 
provoked,  go,  in  cold  blood,  and  cut  the  throats 
of  many  for  a  little  paltry  pay,  and  under  no  better 
authority  than  a  commission  from  a  mortal  as 
weak,  wicked  and  wretched  as  himself,  who  does 
not  perhaps  know  even  his  person,  and  would  not 
care  if  both  his  body  and  soul  were  annihilated? 
If  there  cannot  be  a  greater  misfortune  to  the 
commonwealth,  than  a  general  neglect  and  dis- 
obedience of  the  laws,  let  it  be  considered  as  a 
certain  truth,  that  the  voice  of  law,  divine  or 
human,  is  never  heard  amid  the  clangor  of  arms, 
and  the  din  of  battle.  If  you  deem  debauchery, 
rape,  incest,  and  crimes  of  still  greater  turpitude 
than  these,  foul  disgraces  to  human  nature,  depend 
upon  it  that  war  leads  to  all  of  them,  in  their  most 
aggravated  atrocity.  If  impiety,  or  a  total  neglect 
of  religion,  is  the  source  of  all  villany,  be  assured 


THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE  65 

that  religion  is  always  overwhelmed  in  the  storms 
of  war.  If  you  think  that  the  very  worst  possible 
condition  of  society,  when  the  worst  of  men  pos- 
sess the  greatest  share  of  power,  you  may  take  it 
as  an  infallible  observation,  that  the  wickedest, 
most  unprincipled,  and  most  unfeeling  wretches 
bear  the  greatest  sway  in  a  state  of  war;  and  that 
such  as  would  come  to  the  gallows  in  time  of 
peace,  are  men  of  prime  use  and  energy  in  the 
operations  of  a  siege  or  a  battle.  For,  who  can 
lead  the  troops  through  secret  ways  more  skilfully 
than  an  experienced  robber,  who  has  spent  an 
apprenticeship  to  the  art  among  thieves?  Who 
will  pull  down  a  house,  or  rob  a  church,  more  dex- 
terously than  one  who  has  been  trained  to  bur- 
glary and  sacrilege?  Who  will  plunge  his  bayonet 
into  the  enemy's  heart,  or  rip  up  his  bowels  with 
m.ore  facility  of  execution,  than  a  practised  assas- 
sin, or  thorough-paced  cut-throat  by  profession? 
Who  is  better  qualified  to  set  fire  to  a  village,  or 
a  city,  or  a  ship,  than  a  notorious  incendiary? 
Who  will  brave  the  hardships  and  perils  of  the  sea 
better  than  a  pirate  long  used  to  rob,  sink,  and 
destroy  merchant  vessels  inoffensively  traversing 
the  great  waters?  In  short,  if  you  would  form  an 
adequate  idea  of  the  villany  of  war,  only  observe 
by  whom  it  is  carried  into  actual  execution. 

If  nothing  can  be  a  more  desirable  object  to  a 
pious  king,  than  the  safety  and  welfare  of  those 
who  are  committed  to  his  charge,  then,  consis- 
tently with  this  object,  war  must  of  necessity  be 
held  in  the  greatest  conceivable  abhorrence.  If  it 
is  the  happiness  of  a  king  to  govern  the  happy, 
he  cannot  but  delight  in  peace.     If  a  good  king 


66  THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE 

wishes  for  nothing  so  much  as  to  have  his  people 
good,  like  himself,  he  must  detest  war,  as  the  foul 
sink  of  sin  as  well  as  misery.  If  he  has  sense  and 
liberality  enough  to  consider  his  subjects'  riches, 
the  best  and  truest  opulence  he  can  himself  pos- 
sess, then  let  him  shun  war  by  all  possible  means; 
because,  though  it  should  turn  out  ever  so  for- 
tunate, it  certainly  diminishes  every  body's  prop- 
erty, and  expends  that  which  was  earned  by  hon- 
est, honourable,  and  useful  employments,  on  cer- 
tain savage  butchers  of  the  human  race.  Let  him 
also  consider  again  and  again,  that  every  man  is 
apt  to  flatter  himself  that  his  own  cause  is  a  good 
one ;  that  every  man  is  pleased  with  his  own 
schemes  and  purposes ;  and  that  every  measure 
appears  to  a  man  agitated  with  passion  the  most 
equitable,  though  it  is  the  most  unjust,  the  most 
imprudent,  and  the  most  fallacious  in  the  issue. 
But,  suppose  the  cause  the  justest  in  the  world, 
the  event  the  most  prosperous,  yet  take  into  the 
account  all  the  damages  of  war,  of  every  kind 
and  degree,  and  weigh  them  in  the  balance  with 
all  the  advantages  of  victory,  and  you  will  find  the 
most  brilliant  success  not  worth  the  trouble. 

Seldom  can  a  conquest  be  gained  without  the 
effusion  of  blood.  Therefore,  in  the  midst  of  the 
rejoicings,  illuminations,  acclamations,  and  all  the 
tumult  of  joy,  excited  by  knaves  among  fools,  it 
must  occur  to  a  king  with  a  feeling  heart  that  he 
has  embrued  hands,  hitherto  unspotted,  in  the 
pollution  of  human  gore.  Add  to  this  circum- 
stance, distressing  to  every  humane  heart,  the  in- 
jury done  to  the  morals  of  the  people,  and  the 
general   good   order  and   discipline   of   the   state. 


THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE  67 

and  you  will  find  this  a  loss  which  neither  money, 
nor  territory,  nor  glory,  can  compensate.  You 
have  exhausted  your  treasury,  you  have  fleeced 
your  people,  you  have  loaded  peaceable  good  sub- 
jects with  unnecessary  burdens,  and  you  have 
encouraged  the  wicked  unprincipled  adventurers 
in  acts  o£  rapine  and  violence;  and,  after  all,  even 
when  the  war  is  put  an  end  to,  the  bad  conse- 
quences of  the  war  still  remain,  not  to  be  removed 
by  the  most  splendid  victory.  The  taste  for  sci- 
ence, arts,  and  letters,  languishes  a  long  while. 
Trade  and  commerce  continue  shackled  and  im- 
peded. Though  you  should  be  able  to  block  up 
the  enemy,  yet,  in  doing  it,  you,  in  fact,  block  up 
yourself  and  your  own  people;  for  neither  you 
nor  they  dare  enter  the  neighbouring  nation, 
which,  before  the  war,  was  open  to  egress  and 
regress;  while  peace,  by  opening  an  universal 
intercourse  among  mankind,  renders,  in  some 
measure,  all  the  neighbouring  dynasties  one  com- 
mon country. 

Consider  what  mighty  matters  you  have  done 
by  thus  boldly  rushing  into  war.  Your  own  hered- 
itary dominions  can  scarcely  be  called  your  own. 
The  possession  is  rendered  insecure,  being  con- 
stantly exposed  to  hostile  invasion.  In  order  to 
demolish  a  poor  little  town,  how  much  artillery, 
how  much  camp-equipage,  and  all  other  military 
apparatus,  do  you  find  requisite?  You  must  build 
a  sort  of  temporary  town,  in  order  to  overthrow 
a  real  one ;  and,  for  less  money  than  the  whole 
business  of  destruction  costs  you,  you  might  build 
another  town  by  the  side  of  that  you  are  going  to 
level  in  the  dust,  where  human  beings  might  enjoy, 


68  THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE 

if  you  wculd  let  them,  the  comforts  of  that  life 
which  God  has  been  pleased  to  bestow  in  peace  and 
plenty.  In  order  to  prevent  the  enemy  from  going 
out  of  the  gates  of  his  own  town,  you  are  obliged 
to  sleep  for  months  out  of  yours  in  a  tent  of  the 
open  air,  and  continue  in  a  state  of  transportation 
and  exile  from  your  own  home.  You  might  build 
new  walls  for  less  than  it  costs  you  to  batter  down 
the  old  ones  with  your  cannon-balls,  and  all  the 
expensive  contrivances  formed  for  the  hellish  pur- 
poses of  marring  and  demolishing  the  works  of 
human  industry.  In  this  cursory  computation  of 
your  expence,  (for  that  I  am  chiefly  considering, 
and  the  gain  that  accrues  from  victory)  I  do  not 
reckon  the  vast  sums  that  stick  to  the  fingers  of 
commissioners,  contractors,  generals,  admirals,  and 
captains,  which  is  certainly  a  great  part  of  the 
whole. 

If  you  could  bring  all  these  articles  into  a 
fair  and  honest  calculation,  I  will  painfully  suf- 
fer myself  to  be  every  where  driven  from  you 
mortals  as  I  am,  unless  it  should  appear  that  you 
might  have  purchased  peace,  without  a  drop  of 
blood,  at  a  tenth  part  of  the  expenditure.  But 
you  think  it  would  be  mean  and  humiliating,  in- 
consistent with  your  own  and  your  nation's  hon- 
our, to  put  up  with  the  slightest  injury:  now  I 
can  assure  you,  that  there  is  no  stronger  proof 
of  a  poor  spirit,  a  narrow,  cowardly,  and  unkingly 
heart,  than  revenge;  especially  as  a  king  does  not 
risk  his  own  person  in  taking  it,  but  employs  the 
money  of  the  people  and  the  courage  of  the  poor. 
You  think  it  inconsistent  with  your  august  maj- 
esty, and  that  it  would  be  departing  from  your 


THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE  69 

royal  dignity,  to  recede  one  inch  from  your  strict 
right  in  favour  of  a  neighbouring  king,  though 
related  to  you  by  consanguinity  or  marriage,  and 
perhaps  one  who  has  formerly  rendered  you  bene- 
ficial services.  Poor  strutting  mortal!  how  much 
more  effectually  do  you  let  down  your  august  maj- 
esty and  royal  dignity  when  you  are  obliged  to 
sacrifice  with  oblations  of  gold  to  foreign  and 
barbarous  mercenaries,  to  the  lowest  dregs,  the 
most  profligate  wretches  on  the  face  of  the  earth; 
when,  with  the  most  abject  adulation,  and  in  the 
meanest  form  of  a  petitioner,  you  send  ambassa- 
dors or  commissioners  to  the  vilest  and  most  mis- 
chievous nations  around,  to  ask  them  to  receive 
your  subsidies;  trusting  your  august  majesty's 
life,  and  the  property  and  political  existence  of 
your  people,  to  the  good  faith  of  allies,  who  ap- 
pear to  have  no  regard  to  the  most  sacred  engage- 
ments, and  are  no  less  inclined  to  violate  justice 
than  humanity. 

If  the  preservation  of  peace  is  attended  with  the 
necessity  of  submitting  to  some  circumstances 
rather  disadvantageous,  and  perhaps  unjust,  do 
not  say  to  yourself,  that  you  incur  such  a  loss  by 
resolving  on  peace  instead  of  war,  but  that  you 
purchase  the  inestimable  benefit  of  peace  at  such 
a  price.  You  could  not  get  it  cheaper;  but  the 
consolation  is  that  it  cannot  be  bought  too  dearly. 
Yet  methinks  a  royal  objector  says,  "I  would  very 
willingly  give  up  such  and  such  points  if  I  were 
a  private  man,  and  the  things  in  question  were 
my  own  property;  but  I  am  a  king,  and,  whether 
I  like  it  or  not,  am  under  the  necessity  of  acting, 
as  I  do,  for  the  public." 


70  THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE 

For  the  public,  says  your  majesty?  Let  me  tell 
you,  "that  king  will  not  easily  be  induced  to  enter 
on  a  war,  who  has  no  regard  but  for  the  public." 
On  the  contrary,  we  see  that  almost  all  the  real 
causes  of  wars  are  things  which  have  no  reference 
at  all  to  the  welfare  of  the  public.  Is  your  object 
to  claim  and  gain  possession  of  this  or  that  part 
of  another's  territory,  what  is  that  to  the  welfare 
of  the  people?  Do  you  desire  to  take  royal  re- 
venge on  a  crowned  head  in  your  vicinity,  who 
has  presumed  to  refuse  your  daughter  in  marriage, 
or  repudiated  her  after  marriage;  what  is  that  to 
the  welfare  of  the  people?  How  is  it,  in  the 
smallest  degree,  a  business  of  the  state,  the  com- 
munity at  large?  If  you  mean  really  to  support 
your  august  majesty  and  royal  dignity,  the  only 
way  is,  to  support  the  character  of  a  good,  just, 
and  wise  man,  by  taking  all  these  things  into  your 
most  serious  consideration,  and  acting  accord- 
ingly. 

Which  of  you  modern  kings  ever  extended  his 
empire  so  widely,  or  governed  with  so  much  maj- 
esty and  dignit}'',  as  Augustus  Caesar?  But  he,  in 
all  his  glory,  was  desirous  of  relinquishing  his 
power,  if  the  people  could  have  found  any  prince 
to  preside  over  them  with  more  advantage  to  the 
commonwealth.  The  saying  of  a  certain  emperor 
of  antiquity,  is  justly  celebrated  by  the  best  writ- 
ers; "perish,  said  he,  my  sons  and  heirs,  if  any 
other  successor  can  be  found  more  likely  than 
any  of  them  to  consult  the  happiness  of  the  peo- 
ple." These  two  emperors,  not  being  christians, 
are  called  impious,  heathenish  men,  by  christians; 
by  those  who  would  go  to  war,  in  defence  of  law, 


THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE  71 

order,  and  religion;  and  yet  such  benevolent  dis- 
positions did  these  impious,  heathen  emperors  dis- 
play towards  promoting  the  welfare  of  the  people, 
the  happiness  of  man  in  society!  In  the  mean- 
time, christian  emperors  consider  a  whole  chris- 
tian people  as  a  swinish  multitude,  as  so  little 
worthy  of  their  regard,  that  they  would  set  the 
world  on  fire,  without  consulting  the  people,  to 
revenge  the  disappointment  of  their  own  selfish 
desires  or  to  secure  their  full  gratification. 

Still  I  hear  certain  potentates  captiously  ex- 
claiming, that  it  does  not  signify  arguing,  and  that 
they  could  not  be  personally  safe  if  they  did  not 
repel  by  fire  and  sword  the  power  of  ill-designing 
men,  who,  not  having  the  fear  of  God  before  their 
eyes,  might  even  attack,  with  success,  their  own 
august  majesty.  How  happens  it,  I  ask  them  in 
return,  that  among  all  the  Roman  emperors,  An- 
tonius  Pius  and  Antonius  the  philosopher  were 
the  only  ones  that  were  never  attacked?  From 
these  two  instances  it  appears,  that  no  kings  sit 
more  firmly  on  their  thrones,  than  they  who  shew 
that  they  are  ready  at  any  time  to  quit  them,  when 
their  resignation  appears  likely  to  benefit  the  pub- 
lic; and  that  their  power  is  a  trust  resumable  at 
will,  reposed  in  them  by  the  people  for  the  good 
of  the  people,  and  not  to  gratify  their  own  pride 
or  avarice,  by  lavishing  away  other  men's  blood 
and  money. 

May  it  please  your  most  christian  majesties!  if 
nothing  will  move  you,  if  neither  the  feelings  of 
nature,  the  reflections  of  conscience,  nor  the  actual 
pressure  of  calamity;  at  least,  let  the  reproach  of 
the  christian  profession   (for  which  you  pretend 


72  THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE 

to  be  so  zealous)  bring  you  back  to  long  relin- 
quished christian  unanimity. 

May  it  please  you,  who  would  go  to  war  in  de- 
fence of  religion,  as  well  as  of  law  and  order,  to 
consider  how  small  a  portion  of  the  terraqueous 
globe  is  occupied  by  christians.  And  this  portion, 
small  as  it  is,  constitutes  what  is  called  in  the 
scriptures,  a  city  situated  on  a  holy  mountain,  to 
be  constantly  reverenced,  and  preserved  inviolate, 
both  by  God  and  man. 

But  what  must  we  suppose  a  nation  of  atheists, 
(if  any  such  there  be)  or  of  unbelievers  in  Christ, 
think  and  say?  what  reproaches  must  they  vomit 
out  against  Christ,  when  they  see  his  professed 
followers  cutting  one  another  in  pieces,  from 
more  trifling  causes  than  the  heathens;  with 
greater  cruelty  than  atheists,  and  with  more  de- 
structive instruments  of  mutual  murder  than  pa- 
gans could  ever  find  in  their  hearts  to  use,  or  in 
their  understanding  to  contrive. 

Whose  invention  was  a  cannon?  Was  it  not  the 
invention  of  the  meek,  lowly,  merciful  followers 
of  Jesus  Christ,  whose  law  was  love,  and  whose  last 
legacy  to  his  disciples  and  the  world,  peace?  The 
cannon  was  the  contrivance  of  christians;  and  to 
add  to  their  infamy,  it  is  usual  to  mark  the  names 
of  the  apostles  and  to  engrave  the  images  of  saints 
upon  the  great  guns.  Cruel  mockery  of  Christ, 
and  of  human  misery!  Paul,  the  constant  teacher 
and  preacher  of  peace,  gives  a  name  to  a  piece  of 
artillery,  and  is  thus  made  to  hurl  a  deadly  ball  at 
the  head  of  a  christian;  The  church  militant  with 
a  vengeance! 

If  we  are  so  anxious,  as  we  pretend,  to  support 


THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE  73 

religion,  law,  and  order,  and  particularly  to  con- 
vert an  unbelieving  nation  to  Christianity,  let  us 
first  prove  ourselves  to  be  sincere  followers  of 
Christ.  Will  the  nation  to  whom  we  intend  the 
favour  of  conversion  to  Christianity  by  fire  and 
sword,  believe  that  we  ourselves  are  christians, 
when  they  see,  what  is  too  evident  to  be  denied, 
that  no  people  on  earth  quarrel  and  fight,  one 
among  another,  more  savagely  than  we  christians; 
though  Christ,  the  founder  of  the  very  religion 
which  we  mean  to  propagate  among  them,  declared 
his  utter  detestation  of  all  contention,  and  particu- 
larly of  war? 

A  great  heathen  poet  expresses  his  admiration, 
that  among  heathens,  whom  we  pity  for  their  ig- 
norance, though  there  is  a  time  when  men  have 
enough  of  the  sweetest  enjoyments  of  life,  as  of 
sleep,  of  food,  of  wine,  of  the  dance,  and  the  mel- 
ody of  music,  yet  that  they  seem  never  to  have 
enough  of  the  miseries  of  war.  What  he  said  of 
the  heathens,  his  contemporaries  and  countrymen, 
is  strictly  true  among  those  to  whom  the  very 
name  of  war,  the  very  word,  (as  signifying  a  thing 
disgraceful  to  human  nature)  ought  to  be  held  in 
utter  abomination. 

Rom.e,  ancient  Rome,  mad  as  she  was  with  mar- 
tial rage,  and  intoxicated  with  the  vanity  of  mili- 
tary glory,  yet  sometimes  shut  the  temple  of  her 
Janus.  How  then  happens  it,  that  among  you,  ye 
christian  kings  and  people,  no  recess,  no  holiday, 
no  vacations,  no  rest  is  allowed  in  the  work  of 
war?  With  what  face  should  you  dare  to  recom- 
mend the  christian  religion  to  an  unbelieving  na- 
tion, as  the  religion  of  peace,  when  you  yourselves 


74  THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE 

are  never  at  peace,  but  engaged  in  bitter  quarrels 
and  hostilities  among  each  other,  without  the  least 
intermission?  What  encouragement  must  it  give 
the  common  enemy  to  see  you  thus  divided.  Di- 
vide and  conquer,  is  a  maxim;  and  no  victory  is 
easier  than  that  over  men  turn  to  pieces  by  inter- 
nal dissension.  Would  you,  as  a  nation  o£  chris- 
tians, be  formidable  to  those  who  have  renounced, 
or  never  knew,  Christianity?  To  be  formidable, 
be  united. 

Why  should  you,  wretched  mortals,  of  your  own 
accord,  poison  the  pleasure,  embitter  all  the  en- 
joyment of  this  present  life,  and  at  the  same  time 
cut  yourselves  off  from  all  chance  of  future  felic- 
ity? Few  and  evil  are  the  days  of  man,  number- 
less the  unavoidable  calamities  of  human  life;  but 
a  great  part  of  the  misery  may  be  alleviated  by 
love  and  friendship ;  while,  by  mutual  kind  offices 
all  men  afford  each  other,  in  difficulties  that  are 
surmountable,  assistance,  and,  under  distress  that 
admits  no  remedy,  consolation.  The  good  that 
falls  to  man's  lot  will  be  sweeter  in  its  enjoy- 
m.ent  and  more  extensive  in  its  effects,  by  concord; 
while  every  man  considers  every  other  man  as  a 
friend,  imparts  as  a  share  of  his  possessions  where 
he  can ;  and,  where  he  cannot,  makes  him  a  par- 
taker of  his  good-humour  and  good-will. 

How  frivolous!  what  childish  trifles!  and  how 
soon  will  they  perish  like  yourselves!  about  which 
you  make  such  disturbance ;  and,  to  obtain  which, 
you  deal  death  and  desolation  round  the  land. 
Death !  you  have  no  occasion  for  swords  and  mus- 
kets to  accelerate  it.  Poor  insects  of  a  summer's 
day!  death  hovers  over  all  of  you,  in  act  to  strike. 


THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE  75 

with  unerring  dart,  the  king  in  all  his  glory,  at 
the  head  of  his  armies,  as  suddenly  as  the  labourer 
in  the  field  and  the  manufactory.  What  a  tumult 
is  excited  by  an  animalcule,  with  a  crown  on  his 
head !  a  being  who  will  soon  vanish,  like  the  smoke 
into  the  air,  and  leave  not  a  vestige  of  its  existence. 
At  the  very  portal  of  your  palace,  at  the  entrance 
of  your  military  pavilion,  lo !  the  brink  of  eter- 
nity! Why  then  will  you  fret  and  fume  about 
shadows,  phantoms,  air-drawn  objects  of  a  waking 
dream,  as  if  this  life  were  endless,  and  there  were 
time  enough  in  it  to  be  wantonly  mad  and  miser- 
able. 

O  wretched  men!  ye  who  will  not  believe  in  the 
future  happiness  of  the  good,  or  who  dare  not 
hope  it  for  yourselves  under  that  description. 
Most  unreasonable,  as  well  as  miserable,  if  you 
think  that  the  road  to  the  blissful  country  of 
Heaven  lies  through  the  field  of  battle  and  the 
walks  of  war!  The  very  bliss  of  Heaven  itself  is 
but  an  undescribable  union  of  beatified  minds;  to 
take  place  when  that  shall  be  fully  accomplished, 
which  Christ  earnestly  prayed  for  to  his  heavenly 
Father,  desiring  that  christians  might  be  as  in- 
timately and  mysteriously  united  to  each  other,  as 
he  is  with  the  Father.  How  can  you  ever  be  fit 
for  this  perfect  union,  unless  you  meditate  upon 
it  in  the  interval,  and  endeavour  with  your  utmost 
efforts  to  attain  it?  As  the  transition  would  be 
too  sudden  and  violent,  from  a  foul  and  filthy 
glutton  to  an  angel  of  light;  so  would  it  be,  from 
a  bloody  warrior  to  the  company  of  martyrs,  and 
those  who  have  kept  themselves  unspotted  from 
the  world,  unstained  with  human  gore. 


76  THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE 

Enough,  and  more  than  enough,  o£  christian 
blood,  enough  of  human  blood,  has  been  already 
spilt;  enough  have  you  acted  the  part  of  madmen 
to  your  mutual  destruction;  enough  have  you  sac- 
rificed to  the  evil  spirits  of  hell;  long  enough  have 
you  been  acting  a  tragedy  for  the  entertainment 
of  unbelievers.  I  pray  you,  after  so  long  and  sad 
experience  of  the  evils  of  war,  (submitted  to  by 
the  principal  sufferers  a  great  while  ago  too  pa- 
tiently)  repent,  and  be  wise. 

Let  the  folly  that  is  past  be  imputed,  if  you  will, 
to  the  destinies,  to  any  thing  you  please.  Let  the 
christians  vote,  what  the  heathens  sometimes 
voted,  an  entire  amnesty  of  all  past  errors  and 
misfortunes ;  but,  for  the  time  to  come,  apply  your- 
selves, one  and  all,  to  the  preservation  and  per- 
petuation of  peace.  Bind  up  discord,  not  with 
hempen  bands  liable  to  be  broken  or  untwisted, 
but  with  chains  of  steel  and  adamant,  never  to  be 
burst  asunder,  till  time  shall  be  no  more. 

Kings !  to  you  I  make  my  first  appeal.  On  your 
nod,  such  is  the  constitution  of  human  affairs, 
the  happiness  of  mortals  is  made  to  depend.  You 
assume  to  be  the  images  and  representatives  of 
Christ,  your  sovereign.  Then,  as  you  wish  men 
to  hear  your  voice  shew  the  example  of  obedience, 
and  hear  the  voice  of  your  Sovereign  Lord,  com- 
manding you,  upon  your  duty,  to  seek  peace  and 
abolish  war.  Be  persuaded  that  the  world,  wearied 
with  its  long  continued  calamities,  demands  this, 
and  has  a  right  to  insist  on  your  immediate  com- 
pliance. 

Priests!  to  you  I  appeal  as  consecrated  to  the 
God  of  Love  and  Mercy.     On  your  conscience  I 


THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE  77 

require  you  to  promote,  with  all  the  zeal  o£  your 
hearts  and  abilities  of  your  minds,  that  which  you 
know  is  most  agreeable  to  God;  and  to  explode, 
discountenance,  and  repel,  with  equal  ardour  and 
activity,  what  you  know  in  your  hearts  he  abhors. 

Preachers  o£  all  denominations !  to  you  I  appeal. 
Preach  the  gospel  o£  peace.  Let  the  doctrines  o£ 
peace  and  good-will  £or  ever  resound  in  the  ears 
o£  the  people. 

Bishops,  and  all  who  are  pre-eminent  in  eccle- 
siastical dignity!  I  call  upon  you,  that  the  high 
authority  and  influence  which  you  possess  over 
the  minds  o£  both  kings  and  people,  may  be  ex- 
erted to  bind  upon  their  hearts,  with  bonds  indis- 
soluble, the  sacred  obligations  to  peace. 

Dukes,  lords,  grandees,  placemen,  and  magis- 
trates, o£  every  description!  I  appeal  to  you,  that 
your  hearty  good-will  may  co-operate  in  the  work 
o£  peace,  with  the  wisdom  o£  kings,  and  the  piety 
of  priests. 

I  appeal  to  all  who  call  themselves  christians! 
I  urge  them,  as  they  would  manifest  their  sin- 
cerity, and  preserve  their  consistency,  to  unite 
with  one  heart  and  one  soul,  in  the  abolition  of 
war,  and  the  establishment  of  perpetual  and  uni- 
versal peace. 

Here,  and  in  this  instance,  shew  the  world,  how 
much  can  be  effected  by  the  union  of  the  multitude, 
the  mass  of  the  people,  against  the  despotism  of 
the  few  and  the  powerful. 

Hither  let  all  ranks  and  orders,  equally  zealous 
and  intent  in  the  glorious  cause,  bring  and  unite 
all  their  wisdom  and  abilities.  Let  eternal  con- 
cord connect  those  whom  Nature  has  connected 


78  THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE 

in  many  points,  and  Christ  in  all.  Let  all  act  with 
equal  zeal  in  accomplishing  a  purpose  which  will 
contribute  equally  to  the  happiness  of  all.  Hither 
every  circumstance  invites  you  to  co-operate  ;  in  the 
first  place,  the  natural  feelings  of  man's  heart,  the 
spontaneous  dictates  of  common  humanity;  and, 
in  the  next,  the  author  and  disposer  of  all  human 
happiness,  Christ.  The  innumerable  blessings  of 
peace,  and  the  unutterable  miseries  of  war,  I  have 
already  endeavoured  to  describe.  Hither  also  the 
inclinations  of  kings  themselves,  in  our  times, 
(the  favourable  influence  of  God's  grace  impelling 
their  m.inds  to  concord)  seem  to  invite.  Behold! 
the  mild  and  pacific^  Leo,  acting  the  part  of 
Christ's  true  vicar,  has  lifted  up  the  signal  of 
peace,  and  exhorted  all  men  to  flock  to  its  stan- 
dard. If  then  you  are  true  sheep,  follow  your 
shepherd.  If  you  are  true  sons,  listen  to  the  voice 
of  your  Father.  Hither  likewise  Francis,  king  of 
France  and  the  most  christian  king,  not  in  title 
only,  summons  you.  He  disdains  not  to  purchase 
peace;  nor  does  he  regard  his  own  pomp  and  exter- 
nal dignity,  so  long  as  he  can  promote  and  pre- 
serve the  public  tranquillity.  He  has  shewn  that 
the  true  splendor  of  royalty,  the  real  majesty  of 
a  king,  consists  in  an  endeavour  to  deserve  well 
of  the  human  race,  to  promote  the  happiness  of 
individuals,  and  not  to  involve  them  in  misery  and 
destruction,  in  a  wild  quixotic  pursuit  of  glory. 
Hither  also  you  are  called  by  the  renowned  Charles 

1  Erasmus  was  much  mistaken  in  Leo  and  other  poten- 
tates of  his  time.  But  it  was  necessary,  for  personal 
safety,  to  pay  such  compliments.  Besides,  that  praise 
which  they  did  not  deserve  was  a  severe  reproach,  and 
might  stimulate  them  to  endeavour  to  deserve  it. 


THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE  79 

the  fifth,  a  young  man  of  a  disposition  naturally 
good,  and  happily  not  yet  corrupted.  Caesar  Maxi- 
milian appears  to  have  no  objection  to  peace,  nor 
does  Henry,  the  famous  king  of  England,  refuse 
his  concurrence. 

As  to  the  people;  in  all  these  countries  the 
greater  part  of  the  people  certainly  detest  war, 
and  most  devoutly  wish  for  peace,  A  very  few  of 
them,  indeed,  whose  unnatural  happiness  depends 
upon  the  public  misery,  may  wish  for  war ;  but 
be  it  yours  to  decide,  whether  it  is  equitable  or 
not,  that  the  unprincipled  selfishness  of  such 
wretches  should  have  more  weight  than  the  an- 
xious wishes  of  all  good  men  united.  You  plainly- 
see,  that  hitherto  nothing  has  been  effectually 
done  towards  permanent  peace  by  treaties,  no  good 
end  answered  by  royal  intermarriages,  neither  by 
violence,  nor  by  revenge,  .Now  then  it  is  time  to 
pursue  different  measures;  to  try  the  experiment, 
what  a  placable  disposition,  and  a  mutual  desire 
to  do  acts  of  friendship  and  kindness,  can  accom- 
plish in  promoting  national  amity.  It  is  the  nature 
of  wars,  that  one  should  sow  the  seeds  of  another; 
it  is  the  nature  of  revenge  to  produce  reciprocal 
revenge.  Now  then,  on  the  contrary,  let  kindness 
generate  kindness,  one  good  turn  become  produc- 
tive of  another;  and  let  him  be  considered  as  the 
most  kingly  character,  the  greatest  and  best  poten- 
tate, who  is  ready  to  concede  the  most  from  his 
own  strict  right,  and  to  sacrifice  all  exclusive 
privilege  to  the  happiness  of  the  people. 

What  has  been  done  by  mere  human  policy,  and 
for  temporal  purposes  only,  has  not  yet  succeeded; 
but  Christ  will  give  success  to  those  pious  designs, 


80  THE  COMPLAINT  OF  PEACE 

which  shall  appear  to  be  undertaken  under  his 
auspices  and  by  his  authority.  He  will  be  present 
and  propitious,  and  favour  those  who  favour  that 
state  of  human  affairs,  which  he  himself  evidently 
appeared,  while  on  earth,  so  remarkably,  decidedly 
to  promote. 

Let  the  public  good  overcome  all  private  and 
selfish  regards  of  every  kind  and  degree;  though 
in  truth,  even  private  and  selfish  regards,  and 
every  man's  own  interest,  will  be  best  promoted 
by  the  preservation  of  peace.  Kings  will  find,  that 
to  reign  is  a  more  glorious  thing  than  ever  it  has 
been,  when  they  reign  by  the  mild  authority  of 
law,  and  not  by  arms  and  violence.  The  nobility 
will  find  their  dignity  greater  in  itself,  and  estab- 
lished on  more  reasonable,  and  therefore  more  per- 
manent principles.  The  clergy  will  enjoy  their 
ease  with  less  interruption.  The  people  will  pos- 
sess tranquillity  with  greater  plenty,  and  plenty 
with  greater  tranquillity,  than  they  yet  have  ever 
known.  The  christian  profession  will  become  re- 
spectable to  the  enemies  of  the  cross.  Finally, 
every  man  will  become  dear  and  pleasing  to  every 
other  man ;  all  will  be  beloved  by  all !  and,  what 
is  still  more  desirable,  beloved  also  by  Christ;  to 
become  acceptable  to  whom  is  the  highest  felicity 
of  human  nature. 

FINIS. 


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